The DOSAAF organization was mentioned 5,700 times a year in the public pages of Russian schools. She teaches children to fly drones and recruits adults for war.
Such data was provided to Present Time by Dmitry Tsibirev, author of the "Not the Norm" project, which monitors military propaganda in Russian educational institutions.
DOSAAF (Voluntary Association for Aid to the Army, Aviation and Navy) conducts "courage lessons" in schools, competitions in shooting, assembling machine guns and controlling UAVs, and also talks about military professions. Children are taken to shooting ranges, military museums and community training centers where they learn about weapons, military equipment and supplies.
"At the same time, DOSAAF works not only with high school students. Children of almost all ages are involved in its activities. DOSAAF offers teenagers to take over military specializations, including UAV operators and designers, as one of the options for continuing their education after the 9th grade," notes Tsibirev.
For example, in Kaliningrad, the DOSAAF center invites children from the age of eight to learn to fly UAVs for 6,500 rubles a month.
DOSAAF also participates in mandatory military training for 10th graders and conducts training for 8th graders in agreement with schools. According to Tsibirev, participating in such meetings can have consequences even after graduation.
"The courts have already begun to use OZR scores and participation in training camps as arguments against conscripts seeking alternative civilian service," he claims.
After the full invasion began, the Ministry of Defense showed interest in DOSAAF, used the organization to train future contract soldiers and "volunteers", and also tried to attract those who studied in DOSAAF and did not go to the army to sign contracts.
Read more about how the Russian authorities are reviving the Soviet organization, allocating billions of rubles from the budget, what DOSAAF teaches children and how it participates in the recruitment of adults to fight the material of the present.