Majority of New Russian Museums on Putin’s War in Ukraine Directed at Young People, ‘Vot-Tak’ Reports

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 6 – Since Putin called in 2023 for memorials about the war in Ukraine, officials across the Russian Federation and in the occupied territories of Ukraine have opened at least 153 museums devoted to Putin’s “special military operation,” the Vot-Tak portal reports. Of these, almost 60 percent are located in institutions for children and young people.

            The actual focus on young people is actually larger than that, the portal says, because many other museums which have opened special exhibits on the war in Ukraine have sought to attract young people even more than their elders, an indication of precisely what the Kremlin leader presumably wants (vot-tak.tv/92487118/muzei-svo-v-rossii).

            This approach is worrisome because it suggests that Putin wants to raise a generation of young people committed to his militarist course, something that he sees as outlasting both his campaign in Ukraine and even his own presidency and ensuring that his militarist values will shape the values of those still too young to serve in the Russian army.