Authors

Kasia Kaczmarska¹;  ¹ University of Edinburgh, UK

Discussion

Since the very beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, pundits have debated the factors that may have prompted Vladimir Putin to wage a war against Russia's neighbour. This paper focuses on the carefully curated domestic culture of militarism, with emphasis on militarism addressing children and the youth. The younger generation has been specifically targeted by a host of state-sponsored initiatives. In addition to programmes of patriotic education and the Ministry of Defence-funded Yunarmiya, one important aspect of contemporary militarism in Russia has been the production of events for children that represent the war in a specific, mostly positive, way. My research has collated and analysed initiatives and events targeting children organised around the 2020 and 2021 Victory Day celebrations.

I argue that the Russian state has encouraged militarism under the pretence of vospitanye, education and family entertainment. It was largely successful in mobilising parents to partake in various events with their children and in presenting children’s bodies as military bodies. This has had the effect of the infantilisation of war. These activities turned war into a normal event suitable for the little ones. Through a host of mundane activities involving the little and the young ones, militarist ideas became accepted and reproduced as though they were a cultural norm, which makes them difficult to challenge.