Shooting ranges, obstacle courses and indoor skydiving: at first glance it looks like an adventure park – in fact it is a re-education camp in Chechnya. Chechen head of state Ramzan Kadyrov (46) abducted “difficult youth” from Ukraine and taught them “Russian patriotism” in re-education camps.
The children participate in sporting events, visit attractions in the area and become enthusiastic about the military. 200 young men “from different regions of Russia, including the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics” were taken to the camps.
Kadyrov posted a video on his Telegram channel that looks like a commercial. “People are happy and helpful, I really enjoy being here,” says a teenager in a video Kadyrov shared on Telegram. Russian President Vladimir Putin (70) and Kadyrov can be seen in person on his T-shirt. “I love Chechen culture. The people are very hospitable,” says the boy. In the camps, “preventive work is done with the children in the sense of a military-patriotic education,” Kadyrov himself explains.
Ukrainian identity erased
Ahmed Dudayev, Minister of National Politics, praises Kadyrov’s idea for thinking beyond the borders of his own republic. “These young people did not have an easy life,” the man explains. After all, some of them had experienced war and were deported from their homeland. “Thanks to our republic, a new door is opening for them,” says Dudayev. Far away from home, far away from their family and acquaintances.
The abducted children, who are being taught the Chechen-pro-Russian culture, represent “widespread ethnic cleansing”. Ukrainian identity is erased from children from the annexed territories.
Young people are uprooted
Kadyrov also works with Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lwova-Belowa. She also shared how Ukrainian children are taught to love Russia. Experts from the “Institute for the Study of War” (ISW) speak of a targeted “depopulation campaign”.
According to ISW, deputy officials are promoting the adoption of Ukrainian children. Russian sources report 150,000 children who were abandoned by their families in Ukraine and are now believed to have been adopted in Russia. Ukraine speaks of 7,000 kidnapped children.