MILITARIZATION OF YOUTH CONSCIOUSNESS IN TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED CRIMEA

The article examines the main legislative foundations and highlights the key practices of Russian policies on the militarization of children and youth in the temporarily occupied Crimea. It is demonstrated that the Russian Federation is implementing a targeted, systematic policy of militarizing the consciousness of Crimean children and adolescents in order to impose a Russian identity and cultivate «Russian patriots». The key institutions and other actors involved in the policy of militarization, which are engaged in militarypatriotic education of Crimean children, are identified. These institutions aim to encourage Crimean youth to serve in the Russian army and fight in future wars on Russia's side. It is proved that the Russian authorities, alongside the use of several Soviet-era practices of militarizing consciousness, are introducing new ones that have a much greater effect (such as «carnivalization of war», oaths in churches, etc.). It is concluded that Russia's militarization policy on the temporarily occupied territories turns Ukrainian children into Russian hostages, forcing them to become part of the Russian military system.