Russian conveyor belt for the youth of Crimea: "Junarmia" - volunteering - front

On June 29, in accordance with Russian legislation, annexed Crimea celebrated Youth Day. The local Russian authorities spoke in the context of the status of the front on the Crimean peninsula and the so-called "special military operation" (this is how Russia calls the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022 - KR) about the priority of youth policy, which it creates and implements a special committee within the Crimean government appointed by Moscow. A special "military" attitude towards young people was dictated by the ruling party "United Russia".

Why do the Kremlin and the Russian authorities in Crimea see young people only as potential for the Russian army? What are the statistics of the young generation in the population structure of Crimea and Sevastopol? Who among them still remembers Ukraine, and who will be able to remember it forever? Are there real opportunities for young people to realize themselves on the peninsula annexed by Russia? Krym.Realii tried to find answers to these and other questions.

Crimean youth "volunteers" on the fronts

Russian head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov (according to the documents - Aksenov) congratulated the young people on the holiday, stressing that "today many young Crimeans are fighting at the front in the ranks of the Russian armed forces, and thousands of their peers and their families support "SVO2, and that the youth actively participate in the implementation of projects important for the Russian authorities on the peninsula in all areas".
"Today, the state offers many opportunities to young people, supports their implementation in every possible way, but you yourself have to choose your own path. I have no doubt that you will be the ones who will determine the further development of Crimea and our great country of Russia. I am sure that the Crimean youth will manage, and the authorities will always support you," said Aksyonov, as reported by the Crimean Information Agency (KIA).
"United Russia" is particularly focused on young people, said the deputy head of the party faction in the State Duma, Olena Arshinova.
"The party has around 160,000 deputies, every fifth one is under 35 years old. "Molodaya Guardia Edinoi Rossii" (MGER) prepares future MPs, she said. 200 MGER soldiers went to the line alone, 4,000 volunteers help military personnel, civilians and medics in "SVO".

Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Artem Turov added that "many take academic leave to go to the front and new regions..." ("new regions" in Russia are called the occupied territories of Ukraine in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, which the Kremlin unilaterally included in the Russian Federation).
Who is considered young in Russia? How many such people are there in Crimea and Sevastopol?
According to the data of the Russian office of the Federal State Statistics Service of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as of January 1, 2022, 1,931,000 people lived in Crimea. About 895,000 of them are men, 1,360,000 are women. At that time, 547,500 people lived in Sevastopol, of which 260,000 were men and 286,500 were women.
At the same time, according to the data of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, as of January 1, 2022, but already taking into account the two years that have passed since that moment, the current youth, as it is generally considered in Russia - young people from 14 to 35 years - in Crimea today there are about 470,000 people, and in Sevastopol - slightly more than 142,000 people. So, in general, according to Russian models, "young people" make up about 25 percent of the total population of the Crimean Peninsula and the city of Sevastopol.
The number of young people aged 16 to 18 - those who are educated according to the Russian system of school education, introduced on the peninsula in 2014, based on 11 years of education - in Crimea is about 63,000 people, in Sevastopol - 16,500 thousand people. Those who consciously saw the "new realities" and learned about the Russian annexation at the age of 14 to 25 years (now they are 24 to 35 years old): in Crimea - almost 233,000, in Sevastopol - almost 68,000. This is almost one fifth of the total population of the peninsula.
The figures are stated to show general trends in the environment of young people, not taking into account migration processes and processes of targeted resettlement of people from Russian regions by the aggressors to the annexed Crimea.
In 2014, the graduation rate of all higher education institutions in Crimea was about 12,000, and in Sevastopol 4,000. There were more than 16,000 high school graduates and potential students in Crimea and Sevastopol.

Ten years later, at the end of June, the last bell rang for 27,000 high school graduates in 539 Russian schools in the annexed Crimea. Thus, in 2024, more than 18,000 ninth graders and more than 8,000 eleventh graders graduated.
Children born in the year of the annexation of Crimea will be considered young by the Russian authorities four years later, in 2028. Almost all entered the first class of 2020-2021 and will graduate by 2031-2032, if the school education system remains eleven years and Russia keeps Crimea under its control.

Crimean youth are moving on the conveyor belt of "Russian patriots" to the front

Krym.Realii asked Yury Smelyansky, expert on temporarily occupied territories and economy, co-founder of BT "Institute for Black Sea Strategic Research" (Kyiv) to comment on this topic.
"If we talk about the youth of Crimea, which is located on the occupied territory of the peninsula, and project evaluations in parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, then we can notice that, in principle, the same processes are taking place. But Crimea is a more illustrative example in this regard, since Russia annexed the peninsula almost immediately. There was still some kind of game with other territories. In working with young people, the occupying authorities in Crimea built a clear system in the form of an ordinary conveyor belt: youth army - "patriotic" education in upper classes of secondary schools and institutes - front. Looking at it from another angle, I ask the question in a different way: why and why is it done this way?", asks Jurij Smeljanski.
In his opinion, modern youth in Crimea can be characterized as a "transitional community": born in Ukraine, but raised in a Russian high school, and, for the most part, it is "cannon fodder" in the war.
"What can a child's memory remember!? For children brought up under occupation, there is actually only one homeland - Russia. They are so prepared! Today, children who were born during the occupation are already studying in schools in Crimea. In other words, they no longer know Ukraine at all. And it is not a question of whether their parents will tell them something about Ukraine. The issue of children's education turns into a change in worldview: education is one thing in the family, and another in kindergarten and school. An adult can analyze, and a child just absorbs. In this sense, a child is a "blank sheet of paper" on which you can "write" whatever you want. And the occupiers know it, they are working on it. Thus, another seven or eight years of occupation will pass, if this pace continues, and those who were born during the occupation will already begin to finish school. And it will be a completely different youth," predicted the expert.

According to the interlocutor of Krim.Reali, the "methodology" used in Crimea and Sevastopol is not an original invention of the occupiers or the Russians as such. The Kremlin methodically uses the tools and ideological methods of the former USSR, which were also compiled on the basis of the previous historical experience of waging war.
"Let's remember the youth of the Soviet Union. In fact, it was the same. Let's recall the games "Zirnicia" and "Orljatko". There were also yellow boys, pioneers, Komsomol members, who in the end were prepared for self-sacrifice: "As a man, you are nobody, because above you is the Motherland, for which you must give your life." And it was not an invention of the USSR. Let's remember the Turkish sultans, who kidnapped and took away children and later turned them into janissaries. The principle of the Kremlin today: we will raise the children of conquered peoples so that they protect our interests in their own country. This mechanism has been around for a long time. Militarization of the consciousness of Crimean children and youth - accumulation of additional human resources for waging war. "Reformatting the Crimean youth to hate Ukraine so that they perceive Crimea exclusively as Russian," stressed Yurij Smeljanski.
The formation of the "fifth column" is one of the tasks of the Kremlin in the education of young people
According to the expert, this approach to the education of young people in Crimea and Sevastopol is connected with one of the tasks of the Kremlin - the formation of the "fifth column".
"Those who, apart from the USSR, no longer remember anything good in life. It was a kind of "fifth column" that did not directly support Russia during the annexation in 2014, acting in favor of its Soviet memory under the slogan: we want back to the USSR. And the occupiers made great use of it. To this we can add the creation of "local resistance" in case of open hostilities in Crimea. This is why the Kremlin needs a "fifth column" and "local resistance" to "retaliate" against the just attack of the Armed Forces during the de-occupation of the Crimean Peninsula. They are preparing young people for war in order to leave Crimea in Russian hands with all the truths and untruths. Young people change their consciousness so that other thoughts do not appear. And in this case, time works for the occupiers. The longer Crimea is under occupation, the more difficult it will be for us to return it, taking into account a number of already wrong, in my opinion, actions. The Ministry of Education launched a "war" against the only Tavri National University transferred from occupied Crimea to the mainland. And that works in favor of the occupier. This can be called elements of the "politics of false realities", the manifestations of which we are experiencing more and more", the expert believes.
It is necessary to talk about the rights of young citizens of Ukraine in Crimea

10 years ago, the last graduates of Ukrainian schools were 16-17 years old. They are now 26-27 years old. These are already mature people, part of the Crimean youth, they can remember Ukraine not only genetically or from childhood.
"Some of them yes, but not all of them. In 10 years, almost an entire generation passed through the occupation education system, which considers its task the conscious militarization of the consciousness of the children and youth of Crimea. Another five to seven years, and the number of youth "educated" by the Kremlin in Crimea will exceed 50-60 percent. But we still need to add those migrants - about a million - who came to Crimea from Russia. This is also an influence, they communicate. Both children and youth. Such communication also affects consciousness. All this represents a big problem for Ukraine. Some representatives of the government and part of the professional environment that deals with human rights issues are concerned about respecting the rights of the occupiers and other illegal migrants in Crimea after the deoccupation. A question is proposed for discussion: who should be deported and who should not be deported, what selection criteria should be applied. And what about the citizens of Ukraine who are under occupation in Crimea? I have not heard that their rights or the rights of those who were forced to leave Crimea were actively discussed in this way. But this must be done, first of all, especially in order to maintain contact with young people in Crimea!", summed up Jurij Smeljanski.
In June, the Security Service of Ukraine sent an indictment to the court against the former head of the Russian State Committee for the Youth Policy of Crimea, Sekhi Selimov. While in power, he carried out the Kremlin's instructions to forcefully recruit Crimean children into the Russian "Junarmia". Selimov is said to have publicly supported Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, appearing in pro-Kremlin media and distributing propaganda materials on his social networks.
At the beginning of May, the Security Service of Ukraine informed Serhiy Havrilchuk in absentia about the suspicion that he had recruited children into the organization of the head of the regional headquarters of the "Junarmy" in the annexed Crimea.
"Junarmija" is a children's and youth military-patriotic movement created under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. He has been active in Crimea since 2016. On the Crimean peninsula, more than 870 units of "Junarmia" were organized, in which Russia recruited more than 30,000 children. The organization was included in the US sanctions list for "supporting Russia's efforts to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine through the militarization and ideological indoctrination of students." It is also on the sanctions list of Ukraine, Canada and Switzerland.
In the Patriot Park in Sevastopol, the Russian authorities plan to during 2025-2027. to create a training-methodical center for military-patriotic education of youth "Avangard", whose main purpose is the organization of military-patriotic education of youth and the popularization of military and other state service. According to Kremlin estimates, about 5,000 young people will be trained at the center every year.