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Photo: Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya)
On Feb. 23, a ceremony was held at Russian-occupied Mariupol’s School No. 26 to induct students as “guards,” with children reciting an oath and pledging to serve Russia, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported.
Representatives of Russia’s National Guard, or Rosgvardiya, gave the students ID cards confirming their status as “guards.” The ceremony also included what was described as a “consecration ceremony,” during which “Father Rustik blessed the children for faithful service to the Fatherland.”
The event was timed to Russia’s Feb. 23 holiday, also known as “Defender of the Fatherland Day.” Organizers said the ceremony would serve as “an incentive for new achievements and a step into adult life filled with responsibility and noble goals” for the students.
Rosgvardiya earlier held a series of “courage lessons” in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk Region, where students were told about the Russian army’s “feats” and shown drones.
Russia is building an ideological indoctrination system in the occupied areas of Ukraine aimed at erasing children’s Ukrainian identity. Schools are being shifted to Russian curricula, with Ukrainian language and history being stripped from textbooks. Teachers and parents who object face intimidation. In addition, according to Ukrainian and international estimates tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been forcibly transferred and placed with Russian families or in institutions inside Russia proper.
Defender of the Fatherland Day on Feb. 23 began as a Soviet military holiday tied to the early Red Army during the Russian Civil War, and the date became fixed in 1919 before later being formalized as Red Army and Navy Day and then Soviet Army and Navy Day. After the Soviet Union’s collapse, Russia kept the holiday, renamed it Defender of the Fatherland Day and made it a state holiday in 2002, and it is now officially used to honor military service and veterans, while also being widely observed informally as a “Men’s Day.”