Russian Deputy Minister of Education to be tried for militarizing Ukrainian children

An indictment against the Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Andriy Omelchuk, has been sent to court. He is suspected of involvement in the implementation of Russian educational policy in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

According to the investigation, under his supervision, Ukrainian schools and higher education institutions in the occupied territories were forcibly transferred to Russian standards. This involved re-registering institutions, changing curricula, and supplanting the Ukrainian language, history, and culture.

The prosecutor's office notes that these actions are aimed at changing the identity of Ukrainian children and their integration into the educational space of the aggressor state.

In addition, according to the investigation, children in the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions are involved in the activities of paramilitary movements, includingthe Unarmy, the First Movement, and the Warrior.

As part of these programs, they are subjected to ideological indoctrination, taught to handle weapons, and forced to swear allegiance to Russia.

According to law enforcement officials, Russia plans to increase the number of participants in such movements by 250,000 people annually by 2030, including using children under occupation.

Between 2019 and 2025, at least 6,000 Ukrainian children have already been recruited to join theUnarmy. There have been cases when, after reaching the age of majority, they took part in hostilities against Ukraine.

The defendant's actions were qualified as complicity in changing the boundaries of the territory and state border of Ukraine.

The prosecutor's office also reported that 18 members of the organized group were notified of suspicion in this case, with a total of 30 suspects in the category, two of whom have already been convicted.

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