Soldier became teacher, now shows school kids how to be a sniper

"Military and patriotic training is an essential part of the formation of responsible identities," Dmitry Oshurkov says in a propagandistic video posted on governmental social media in the Arkhangelsk region.

The young man signed up as a volunteer in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. He survived frontline battles and returned as war veteran to his home town. 

He now works as teacher at School No 6 in Severodvinsk, the military town known for its shipyards and construction of nuclear submarines.

Oshurkov organises military training for the high school kids. 

In training sessions, the kids are divided into teams; some are snipers, others machine gunners, riflemen, field commanders and medics, the soldier-turned-teacher explains.

"These kinds of assignments not only adds realism to the training, but also teaches the kids to interact in a group, share service duties and take responsibility," Oshurkov says.

The video show how the teenagers have military theory classes and how they learn to handle weapons. In the school yard, the kids dress up in uniforms are are given rifles, machine guns and other weaponry.

Dmitry Oshurkov is one of many soldiers that are employed hired in the Russian school system after returning from the war. 

The Barents Observer has published a number of stories about how Russian schools are being militarised.

"The main thing is to bring up patriots," Russian Minister of Education Sergei Kravtsov said shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion against Ukraine. "We have to revise all textbooks in all subjects," he added.

Far from all teachers are happy with the situation.

The so-called 'special military operation' is increasingly incorporated in the curriculum, a teacher told the Russian version of the Barents Observer.

"For example, instead of a planned class in music, we got a conversation about bravery: they quickly changed everything, distributed presentations where about 40% was about the WW2 and 60% - about the situation in Ukraine. Apparently, we have new heroes …," the teacher said in comment shortly after the start of the full-scale onslaught.

Schools are used as platform for state propaganda about the war and the 'heroes' that are fighting on occupied land.

Soldiers are invited to schools and kindergartens. In the town of Koryazhma, Arkhangelsk region, a soldier, who previous had been convicted for several crimes, gave classes about patriotism to elementary school kids. 

In the city of Chelyabinsk, teacher Pavel Talankin decided to document the overwhelming militarisation in local school. Pretending to shoot photos and videos of the patriotic events for the school administration, he instead brought the materials abroad where he turned them all into a documentary film.

The film is titled Mr Nobody Against Putin and had its world premier at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2025.