Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ Russian prosecutors have sued hundreds of schools across the country for spending money on textbooks and classrooms rather than on replica weapons, dummy grenades and realistic wound simulators to prepare children to fight Russia's next war. ⬇️

2/ The Russian government has introduced a new subject in the current academic year – "Fundamentals of Security and Defence of the Motherland" (OZBR). It is part of an increasingly intensive programme of militarisation of schools, intended to create a new generation of soldiers.

3/ The programme addresses children of all ages, from kindergarten up to higher education. Children as young as three years old are being given military training and familiarisation.
thttps://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1891195175566729708

4/ This doesn't come cheap. Schools are now required to buy items including replica weapons, stretchers, protective suits, gas masks, compasses, thermometers, medical splints, armbands, wound simulators and gas detectors.

5/ The independent Russian news outlet Verstka reports that prosecutors have sued nearly 200 schools in 21 regions for not spending enough on military equipment. They argue that preparation for the army begins at school, and this requires special equipment.

6/ In one case, prosecutors say that schoolchildren's rights "in terms of basic knowledge in the field of defence" were infringed. A Krasnodar prosecutor claimed that it "could have negative consequences in the area of military-patriotic and spiritual-moral education of minors."

7/ In Pyatigorsk, a prosecutor filed suit against a school for not purchasing a mini-express laboratory for radiation and chemical detection, despite the school not having anyone who knew how to use it.

8/ A reviewing judge found that children's "free development of personality, education of mutual respect, diligence, citizenship, patriotism, responsibility" were infringed by their school not having a dummy grenade, a model of a trench shelter, or practice medical equipment.

9/ Schools argue that with the equipment costing between several hundred thousand to a million rubles (i.e. up to about $11,000) they simply do not have enough money in their budgets to afford it. Judges have ordered them to purchase it regardless.

10/ Schools have been forced to spend hundreds of millions of rubles, much of it unfunded by the state, on military training equipment instead of educational items. Parents have been forced to pay for the equipment as a "charitable" donation.

11/ One headteacher says: "One half comes from the [state] budget, and the other half is done like this: in May, each class transfers a sum to the school account under the pretext of charity. My class gives 3,000 [rubles], others give 5,000 and 7,000, as best they can."

12/ "With this money, the director equips classrooms and whatever he deems necessary. They don't report in detail on the money, they just say: here's the shooting range they've finished, here's the life safety course."

13/ According to government figures, in 2024 schools spent 5.27 million rubles ($59,000) on chemical warfare laboratories and at least 195 million ($2.17 million) on quadcopter drones. The Irkutsk region alone has spent over 109 million ($1.21 million) on drones. /end

Source:
verstka.media/kak-rossiiskie…