Their emblem is a red eagle with a red star. Who are they — new pioneers, scouts, or, as some say, Putin youth? At the end of May, Moscow hosted the second meeting of “Young Army” — a paramilitary youth organization, formed in Russia under the auspices of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The Youth Army is the brainchild of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. His message was read out for participants of the celebration that took place near Moscow. It gathered 200 young activists.
“Thousands of boys and girls are ready to defend Russia’s interests in science and technology, sports and culture, be members of the search squads and volunteer events,” said Sergey Shoigu.
Officially, the Youth Army debuted at the Red Square victory parade on May 9th. Everything looked beautiful, aesthetically pleasing, almost like scouts or pioneers, only paramilitary ones. However, in other pictures we see young people with swords in their hands, who brandish their arms and hold competitions in honor of the Motorola — late Donetsk separatist field commander.
Youth Army emblem
At the same time, the Belarusian authorities are keeping Belarusian guys from the patriotic paramilitary organization “White Legion” and the club “Patriot” in pretrial detention centers. Belarus has no organization similar to the Russian “Youth Army”.
Russia is creating a youth reserve, which will be the foundation of the army in the future and will fulfill any orders of their commanders.
While the Belarusian authorities, most likely, will not dare to follow the footsteps of Shoigu, there is no counteraction to the state upbringing. Grassroots initiatives are being strangled. The guys from the “White Legion” and “Patriot” club ended up behind bars. They were engaged in patriotic education of the youth, doing it not with the help from the state, but rather in defiance of it.
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