In occupied Crimea, the aggressor is conducting another “autumn recruitment” of primary school students into the “All-Russian children and youth movement” known as “Orlyata Rossii” (“Eaglets of Russia”). This initiative serves as a component of a criminal system designed to militarize and indoctrinate children living in the occupied territories.
It should be noted that the aggressor does not provide much detail regarding the organizational structure of the “Eaglets,” stating only that the platform operates as part of a “federal project” titled “Patriotic education of citizens of Russia.”
According to “official” Crimean sources, the “regional coordinator” for this initiative, a role she also holds for the “Educators and mentors” project, is Elena Storozhko. She additionally serves as the head of the “Navigators of childhood” regional resource center, an expert for “Rosdettsentr” (“Russian children’s center”), a “member of the republic’s commission on juvenile affairs”, and a “coordinator for student self-governance in the republic”, among other titles.
Although she recently received a “departmental award” from the Russian Ministry of Education, her biography is kept strictly under wraps, and she does not yet appear on any sanctions lists. To oversee the mass enrollment of children into the “Eaglets” program, the aggressor has appointed educators who are the most loyal to the occupation “authorities”, collaborators such as Yulia Zabavko and Tatyana Novikova in Yevpatoria, who are actively assisted by the principals of local schools.
Notably, the email address for “Orlyata Rossii” is hosted on the portal of the “Orlyonok” (“Eaglet”) All-Russian children’s center, an institution under the same Russian Ministry of Education, located near Tuapse. It has long been headed by Alexander Dzheus, a former Komsomol official from the Krasnodar Territory, where he oversaw “sports and mass-participation defense-related activities.” Today, he serves as a regional deputy for the “United Russia” party and maintains extensive connections within the Kremlin.
Notably, in his capacity as chairman of the regional Committee on natural resources, environmental safety, the health resort sector, and tourism, Dzheus has been actively involved over the past two years in the siphoning off of funds ostensibly earmarked for “remediation efforts” following the disaster involving Russian “shadow fleet” tankers “Volgoneft” in the Kerch Strait.
In this context, it is worth noting that the “Orlyonok” center in Tuapse, beyond its role in establishing and supporting propaganda outlets, is also engaged in the rather curious field of waste management.
Furthermore, the very center led by Dzheus has for many years served as a founder of a specific Moscow-based entity known as the “Foundation for International Youth Exchanges.”
This “Foundation” has long been headed by the “Russian right-liberal politician” Andrey Nechayev, who has previously collaborated closely with Ksenia Sobchak and with the “opposition presidential candidate” Boris Nadezhdin.
The fact that the aggressor’s punishers have no questions for Nechayev is easily explained: the Moscow-based “Foundation” was originally established as a “non-governmental” front for the coordination bureau of the Russian-German Council for Youth Cooperation, a fact that officials from the Russian Foreign Ministry have, in the past, openly acknowledged.
Thus, the criminal activities of the “Orlyonok” handlers, including those in occupied Crimea, aimed at the militarization of children, also possess a distinct “external vector” that serves the interests of Russian intelligence.
