The Kremlin would use a video game to recruit teens

Young Russian girls during a military exercise in Crimea occupied by Russia: children are apparently also involved in the development and tests of suicide kamikaze drones.Image: Imago

Children and adolescents would be enlisted to actively participate in the design, manufacturing, and even manipulation of military drones intended for war in Ukraine. A Kremlin strategy combining video games, talent competition and militarized factories.

To speed up drone production, Vladimir Putin can apparently count on unexpected help, that of Russian youth. The Insideropposition media in exile, says that children are integrated very early into the suction drone development chain. The objective: to detect brilliant minds from an early age.

According to this report, the recruitment process sometimes starts with a simple video game: Berlogalaunched in 2022. The player embodies a bear who fights at bee swarms … using drones. The best players can get bonus points for school exams. A reward system that works as a first filter to locate the most gifted.

From competition to the armament industry

Once identified, the most promising students are invited to participate in national talent competitions such as “the big event”. According to The Insiderthe organizers are companies related to the military industry, some of which appear on lists of international sanctions for their direct role in the war in Ukraine.

A teenager told the opposition media to have “actively participated in the modeling of components for different drone systems”. And the organizers blur the tracks. The military objectives are carefully hidden. Another child explains:

Adolescents in drone factories

The chief of the Kremlin has repeatedly called upon to increase the production of drones. On the battlefield, these aircraft now play a central role, both for front attacks and for long -distance targeted strikes. To follow the pace of technological developments, Russia seems to target young people attracted by technology.

According to the report, minors are also involved in the production of larger drones. In a documentary broadcast this weekend by the military channel Starwe see adolescents in a drone factory in Elabouga (Tatarstan, Center-Ouest), participating in the assembly of suicide bomber.

GERAN-2 Russian KAMIKAZE DRONES: children apparently participate in the construction of projectiles.Image: Imago

A violation of international law

Hundreds of geran-2-type drones, derived from the Iranian Shahed-136 model, were shown there. These devices are regularly used to hit civil zones in Ukraine. The European Union has already sanctioned the Elabouga factory. It has also been targeted several times by attacks by Ukrainian drones. Just for that, the use of children in this factory is a violation of international law.

According to the report, young people aged 14 and 15 undergo training specialized in a center near the factory, with the aim of working there afterwards. Their faces were blurred on the screen. A teenager told The Insider Having gave lessons to soldiers at only 13 years old, in a state institution.

Journalists of The Insider Affirm having carried out their investigations under a false identity: they pretended to be state media employees, because independent journalism is de facto prohibited in Russia. They therefore adopted the status of journalists controlled by the State in order to more easily obtain sensitive information from their interlocutors.

Translated and adapted from German by Léon Dietrich

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