How russia is turning Ukrainian teenagers from temporarily occupied territories into ‘voices’ of its propaganda

In search of future soldiers of the information war, the Kremlin has chosen children in the temporarily occupied territories. An international investigation by OCCRP has revealed the mechanisms of the ‘Young Correspondents’ program, where instead of journalistic standards, teenagers are taught hatred of their own people. This is reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation.

The results of the investigation by the International OCCRP Project have highlighted a large-scale network of recruitment of Ukrainian teenagers in the temporarily occupied territories. During 2023–2024, at least 140 active participants passed through the ‘Young Correspondents’ program under the auspices of the militarized ‘Youth Army’.

“Under the guise of media circles and trips to ‘media forums’ in Moscow, children are being prepared to wage information war. Lectures from the Kremlin’s ‘military officers’ are combined with shootings and military games. The curators demand that teenagers create ‘patriotic’ content about ‘their own’ and discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the report says.

Real stories of children whose identities were literally “forgiven” by the occupiers have been documented. Journalists have documented cases when teenagers who a few years ago won Ukrainian reading contests are now swearing allegiance to Putin in the form of the ‘Youth Army’ and calling their compatriots ‘executioners.’

The faces of these children appear on murals in occupied cities.

“The involvement of minors in propaganda in the interests of the occupier is a violation of international law and is tantamount to coercion to serve in the aggressor’s army,” the Center for Countering Disinformation notes.

As earlier reported, we talked about how to recognize fakes and manipulations.