Enemy propaganda in Crimea turned children into war criminals

Hundreds of Crimean children became victims of Russian propaganda and fell under the influence of the occupation authorities. Some of them were killed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This was reported by Eskender Bariiev, Chairman of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center and member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.

According to him, 318 Crimeans, who became victims of Russian indoctrination and militarization, took part in the war against Ukraine and were killed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In his report, Bariiev presented the results of the CTRC's research on the criminal activities of the occupation authorities and methods of combating them. Although there is often talk about the militarization of children in the occupied territories, there was no clear data on the real consequences of these processes and effective ways to counteract them.

He explained that for almost twelve years, Russia has been building loyalty to itself among Crimeans, and the millions of rubles spent on propaganda have given the occupiers noticeable results. He noted that those who embraced Russian ideology either became victims of the occupation regime or lost critical thinking, and as a result, easily turned into "cannon fodder" that Russia used to achieve its imperial goals.

Bariiev emphasized that in order to reduce the participation of Crimeans in the war, an information campaign called "Grave Digging" was organized, which explained that participation in the so-called "svoboda" is a war crime, how to avoid mobilization and what threats service in the Russian army poses.

He said that as of today, more than 1,800 Crimeans who took up arms against Ukraine have been liquidated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Bariiev noted that many people tried to avoid participation in the war, and the majority of the peninsula's population did just that.

At the same time, the human rights activist emphasized that the situation is getting more complicated with every year of occupation: the generation born in Ukrainian Crimea is getting smaller, and those who grew up during the occupation have been influenced by Russian propaganda and militarization.

Last year, Russia also sharply increased funding for summer recreation in the occupied Crimea. Children's camps have actually been turned into centers of propaganda and military training.

Анна Літман