“Our children are being manipulated!”, “They are not children anymore!”, “They're being used as cannon fodder!”, “Young people have the right to decide what kind of country they want to live in!”
As Russia’s new protest wave kicks off, there is no hotter topic than the participation of schoolchildren and students in the protests started by opposition politician Alexey Navalny.
While bloggers on TikTok and Instagram post videos urging young people to take to the streets, Russia’s schools and universities have threatened their students with expulsions - or, conversely, lured them with promises of sports events and examination retakes. Russian state agencies, it seems, are ready to do everything to keep the “children” at home, preferably together with their parents: take a photo session, cook your favorite dish, sit still! admonished Russia’s Ministry of Education ahead of a nationwide protest on 23 January. As a result, panic broke out in parents’ chat groups and online groups, with rumours spreading that “Putin had ordered police to fire on protesters”.
