Over one million Ukrainian children remain under russian influence in occupied territories — Head of Civil Education Center

Over a million children, including 458,000 children in occupied Crimea, are forced to receive education in the occupied territories, which brings them under the influence of the russian authorities.

Valentyna Potapova, Head of Almenda Center for Civil Education, made this statement during a discussion on the way russia uses education against Ukrainian children, which took place at Media Center Ukraine — Ukrinform.

“We counted the children who remained in occupied Crimea, their number is 458,000. And they are being influenced by the russian propaganda, as well as by the tools applied to them to transfer them from one group to another,” — she said.

According to Valentyna Potapova, the children who remained in the temporarily occupied territories “are victims of russia’s deliberate policy to raise over a million children and young people in the spirit of “the great russian state.”

According to her, a lot of funds are allocated from the russian federal budget for that purpose. This includes not only formal education, but also the informal one, in particular, youth movements.

“It’s like a “road roller” driving over our children there! And in terms of international criminal law, unfortunately, this violation is not considered serious. That’s why, they feel impunity and as a result continue to expand this system. If the perception of this crime doesn’t change, it will continue to expand. In addition, this impunity will encourage other states in military conflicts to use such a scenario.”

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news