Ukraine’s National Resistance Center reports that Russia has transformed the Artek children’s camp in occupied Crimea into a so-called volunteer center to support Moscow’s war effort.
“Collecting drones for the so-called ‘war heroes,’ camouflage nets, trench candles, money for medicines – this is how children in the ‘Artek’ in annexed Crimea are ‘vacationing’ now,” the report states.
Recently, children at the camp were tasked with harvesting 223 kilograms of olives, which were then sent to Russian soldiers. Such “activities” have become a regular occurrence at Artek, according to the Center.
The international camp located in the Black Sea town of Gurzuf was an elite go-to destination for children growing up in the Soviet Union and eastern bloc satellite states
“On the basis of a once exemplary recreation camp for children, the Kremlin’s henchmen have created an entire production facility for aid to the Russian army,” the statement reads.
Children are required to complete a minimum of six hours of mandatory labor per week. The practice of mobilizing the population to support Putin’s military is widespread in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the Center emphasizes.
“The main goal is to distort the truth about the purpose of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to foster loyalty among the younger generation to the occupiers,” analysts warn.
Earlier, the Union of Ukrainians in Portugal (UUP) accused the Russian embassy in Portugal of attempting to send schoolchildren from the city of Albufeira to a children’s camp in Crimea, which is under EU and U.S. sanctions. This was reported by the group’s president and the UWC Vice President Pavlo Sadokha.
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