ShareSchool’s Out, Militarization Isn’t
Even as children head off for summer break, Russia’s state-driven militarization of youth continues — now embedded into summer camps across the country. In 2025, a unified educational program for children’s camps officially came into effect, mandated by the Ministry of Education. Its stated goal is to “preserve and strengthen traditional Russian spiritual and moral values,” and it applies to all children’s institutions — including private camps. In practice, this means no camp can avoid organizing “patriotic activities.”
This summer, four major federal military-patriotic organizations are running youth programs across Russia:
📌 “Yunarmiya Academy” — A military-patriotic camp for kids aged 12–16, run by the Yunarmiya movement under the Ministry of Defense. The program includes physical training, patriotic education, and lessons in naval and aviation-related disciplines through specialized streams: Yunarmiya, Yunavia, and Yunflot.
📌 “Time of Young Heroes” — Summer sessions hosted by the VOIN military training center. Camps will open in 20 regions, enrolling nearly 13,000 teenagers aged 14–18. The “highlight” of this year’s program is a sniper course, developed in collaboration with the Russian Federation of Combat Sniping.
📌 “Land of Heroes” — A network of military-historical camps created by the Russian Military-Historical Society. The 14-day program for ages 12–17 includes unarmed self-defense, firearms training, and knife-throwing. According to organizers, “experienced instructors will teach children to overcome fear and doubt.”
📌 “Avangard” Military-Sports Sessions — Russia’s largest chain of military-patriotic centers, supported by the Ministry of Defense and DOSAAF. Known for organizing five-day training camps for high schoolers, Avangard centers are now expanding into summer programming across dozens of regions.
