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Russia Antiterror Drills Put Preschoolers in Hostage-Taking Scenarios

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Roman Kohanets
News Writer
Russian schoolchildren take part in an anti-terrorism drill in 2025, during which participants were shown lying on the floor while an armed person simulated a hostage-taking scenario.
Russian schoolchildren take part in an anti-terrorism drill in 2025, during which participants were shown lying on the floor while an armed person simulated a hostage-taking scenario. (Photo: open source)

Children in Russian kindergartens were made to lie face down on the floor with weapons pointed at them and portrayed as having been "taken hostage," as nationwide antiterrorism drills reached schools and preschools on August 18.

The exercises were reported by the independent outlets Meduza and Novaya Gazeta Europe on August 18, after kindergartens in several regions began posting photo reports of the drills online.

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The images showed children taking part in the exercises themselves. Some hid in utility rooms, while others lay face down beside their teachers as weapons were pointed at them, according to the material posted online.

A stun grenade detonated during the same drills at a school in the village of Serkovo, in the Moscow region, injuring four teachers. The incident was reported by the Russian Telegram channels 112, Mash, and Baza, which maintain ties to the country's security services.

Children crouch on the floor during an anti-terrorism drill at a Russian kindergarten, while a participant portraying an attacker points a weapon inside the room. Similar exercises have been held across Russian schools and preschools.
Children crouch on the floor during an anti-terrorism drill at a Russian kindergarten, while a participant portraying an attacker points a weapon inside the room. Similar exercises have been held across Russian schools and preschools. (Photo: open source)
Children hide on the floor of a restroom during an anti-terrorism drill at a Russian kindergarten, practicing a response to a simulated armed threat. The exercise was part of security training held in Russian educational institutions.
Children hide on the floor of a restroom during an anti-terrorism drill at a Russian kindergarten, practicing a response to a simulated armed threat. The exercise was part of security training held in Russian educational institutions. (Photo: open source)

Deputy Education Minister Alexander Bugaev had announced the exercises a week earlier. He indicated they would test how teachers, administrators, and security guards respond to a taking hostage, an arson attempt, or a drone attack on schools and kindergartens, making no mention of children taking part.

Bugaev described the drills as the first of their kind in kindergartens. Novaya Gazeta noted, however, that comparable exercises had already been carried out in the spring of 2025.

The 2026 drills were set to run across Russian schools and kindergartens over two days, on August 18 and 19.

The staging of armed violence for the very young reflects a wider drive to weave military life into Russian childhood, one that has reached the Ukrainian territories under temporary occupation.

There, children have been documented absorbing a reverence for the armed forces from kindergarten onward. They are pushed into military-patriotic organizations, taught to handle weapons, and told that Ukraine is the enemy until war reads as an ordinary duty.

Ukrainian authorities had documented more than 19,500 children abducted by Russia by mid-2025, with only about 1,366 returned, many of them placed in adoption schemes, military schools, or psychiatric institutions.

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