Russia’s Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, the Kremlin and the Ministry of Education plan to establish a new national youth movement, RBC newspaper reports, citing two sources.
According to the newspaper, the new organisation can be based on several existing youth movements in Russia, including the Russian Movement of School Students and the Young Army Cadets National Movement.
One of the sources stated that Russian lawmakers would propose a corresponding bill on 19 May, which used to be the Young Pioneers Day in the USSR. The pioneer movement was a mass youth organisation in the Soviet Union compulsory for all children and adolescents.
Unlike the pioneer movement, the new organisation will have voluntary membership, RBC sources noted.
The new youth movement’s main aims are to “nurture patriotism, love for the Motherland and civic engagement among children and adolescents.” Another source noted that the state’s current youth programs “cannot reach all the children”.
It was reported in late April that an 11-year-old school student was put on probation in the city of Kamyshin in Russia’s Volgograd Region for “discrediting” the Russian army on social media. A school raid was held by local police officers, during which 146 administrative protocols were filed, including 21 charges against teenagers.
