Putin signed a law in August creating a new required course in “Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland.”
In July, the defense ministry approved high school-age lessons on how to operate assault rifles, combat drones and hand grenades. They will be introduced across Russia next year.
Barbieri believes the drone lessons are in response to Ukraine’s extensive use of drones to disrupt and damage Russian locations.
At younger ages, children as young as seven are learning how to assemble machine guns.
Basically, military service for 16/17yos? I’m against it, but it’s honestly not that crazy given that Singapore, the US, and Germany allow military service at 17 with parental consent. Canada also allows people to join Military Colleges at 16. It’s unclear how parental consent will play into this in Russia.
Hits different with the desperation behind it. If you’re culturally indoctrinating your kids for war just as a standard, fine. But when your fighting men are being deleted and you pivot to this strategy it just looks bad.