You're reading: RFE/RL: Crimean kids with Kalashnikovs (PHOTOS)

Children carrying guns and flags or wearing Soviet-style uniforms have become a common sight at Victory Day parades and other events in Russian-controlled Crimea. Russian and Ukrainian human rights activists have warned that such displays point to a growing trend of promoting Russian patriotism among kids on the Crimean peninsula, annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Alongside public events, many schools offer paramilitary classes, and children from age 8 are invited to enroll in Yunarmiya, a Russian patriotic youth movement.