Photo: Reuters
Various patriotic military movements have existed in the temporarily occupied territories for more than two years. They have been united into one movement, the «Movement of the First», as explained by Alisa Yurchenko, editor and journalist of the Bihus.Info project.
«After Putin’s defeat near Kyiv in the spring of 2022, active efforts began to create military movements in the temporarily occupied territories. The largest among them is the «Movement of the First.» It is now a comprehensive Russian movement. It receives billions in funding and has a very active online and offline campaign to brainwash children.»
According to Alisa Yurchenko, the Movement of the First pays particular attention to the temporarily occupied territories. Their branches have been established in all occupied regions of Ukraine as legal entities with official leaders.
«The Russians are scaling it all up to the level of schools, clubs, and institutions, both in Russia and in our temporarily occupied territories since 2014. Less actively in the Kherson region and somewhat in between in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Time is not in our favor. We can see from Donetsk and Luhansk that over the years, they have managed to make our children feel like Russians. This can be seen in the way the movement members in the occupied territories position themselves on social media and how they behave. Unfortunately, this is happening.»
Alisa Yurchenko said she was surprised by the ways in which children are encouraged to join Russian militant movements.
«Russians widely use bribery of children and families. They distribute backpacks and stationery. They promote themselves on social media. They offer children grants for ideas that have social benefits. They offer teenagers the chance to start their own business and are ready to provide them with mentoring support. This is how they bribe people in the temporarily occupied territories.»
Russia is a large country with an economy that, unfortunately, is still more or less stable.
«Russia can afford to allocate 20 billion rubles annually to finance the militant movement. The worst aspect of all this is the ideological processing and the change of identity of our citizens. Russians are very active with patriotic themes.
It looks a little bit like a sect, where they talk about love for Russia and the ‘need to defend it’ all the time. This topic is raised at every event. They also encourage our children to make postcards, trench candles, and prepare souvenirs for the Russian military.»