Russia has increased spending on military training for schoolchildren by 20 times

Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, spending on patriotic education in Russia has increased 20-fold, reaching 70 billion rubles (nearly $1 billion) compared to 3.4 billion in 2021. 

The funds received are being directed toward large-scale financing of militarized children’s camps, festivals, the purchase of weapons, and the creation of propaganda media content.

According to published data, more than a third of the total budget for the federal “We Are Together” project will go to the Institute for Internet Development; approximately 10 billion rubles have been allocated to the “Movement of the First” organization, and another 7.4 billion rubles will be spent on programs to engage youth in the system of patriotic education. Under these contracts, regional centers are mass-purchasing Kalashnikov rifle replicas, laser shooting ranges, mine detectors, drones, model armored trains, and inflatable military equipment. At the same time, the Russian authorities are actively introducing elements of mandatory military training as part of the school course “Fundamentals of Security and Homeland Defense,” sending teenagers to training camps, and threatening parents who try to resist the militarization of education with fines and persecution.