Russian Preschools Adopt Military Drills as Part of Putin’s Indoctrination Efforts

Russian preschools have marked the beginning of 2025—the year Russian leader Vladimir Putin declared the “Year of the Defender of the Fatherland"—by staging mass military-patriotic drills for young children, forcing them to throw toy grenades, crawl through snow, and weave camouflage nets, Russian media Agenstvo reported on February 14.

Reports posted on the social network VKontakte by kindergartens and local authorities reveal a sharp rise in such activities. Agenstvo found nearly 300 reports of military drills in preschools since the beginning of 2025, compared to a threefold lower number in the same period last year and a fivefold decrease in 2023. No such reports were found in early 2022.

One of the largest drills took place in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan, where the local administration and the ruling United Russia party organized a city-wide competition among preschoolers.

60 young children from 10 kindergartens took part in activities such as marching drills, grenade throwing, first aid training, demining exercises, and reciting stories about Soviet war heroes. Military personnel handed out awards to the children.

Similar events were held across Russia, with preschoolers dressed in military and medical uniforms, wielding toy weapons, and weaving camouflage nets. Some kindergartens set up makeshift trenches, field kitchens, and snow fortifications in their courtyards, feeding children “soldier’s porridge.”

The events were reportedly organized to mark the “Year of the Defender of the Fatherland,” Russia’s Defender of the Fatherland Day, and anniversaries related to World War II.

Earlier, Russian schools and kindergartens had begun pressuring children to record video messages for soldiers fighting in Ukraine and to collect supplies for the frontlines.