Russian authorities spent more than 50 billion rubles on military training centers for schoolchildren

Russian authorities spent more than 50 billion rubles on military training centers for schoolchildren — Vot Tak

Over the past five years, the Russian authorities have spent more than 50 billion rubles on establishing and operating military-patriotic centers, where Russian schoolchildren are sent for mandatory military training camps, the outlet Vot Tak calculated.

The journalists published a major investigation into how such centers operate and how teenagers from both Russia and the Russian-annexed territories of Ukraine are being militarized. Vot Tak describes two networks of military-patriotic centers: Avangard and Voin.

Avangard centers began appearing across the country in 2020. By September 2025, there were 147 Avangard centers in the country. Their creation and funding are handled by Russia’s regions, with money allocated for this, among other sources, directly from regional budgets.

The total amount allocated from budgets at various levels for the operation of the Avangard centers is unknown. According to Vot Tak’s estimate, since 2020, 39 of the 70 Russian regions where Avangard is present have allocated at least 36.5 billion rubles for the creation and operation of these centers. The main share of the funds, nearly 23 billion, went to infrastructure and equipment for the centers, while the rest went to maintenance.

Voin is a network of centers that includes 21 branches. Four of them are located in Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia. Since September 2022, nearly 15 billion rubles from the federal budget have been spent on the network, the investigation says. By 2030, Voin centers are planned to be opened across all of Russia.

At these centers, teenagers are taught how to handle weapons, provide first aid on the battlefield, and act in conditions of chemical, biological, or radiation contamination. Children at these centers wear uniforms and meet with participants in the war against Ukraine and with propagandists. At the Avangard center, according to children who have been there, punishments are also practiced.

For comparison, Vot Tak notes, with the 50 billion rubles spent on military-patriotic centers, Russia could have built 50 schools, 166 swimming pools, 370 sports complexes, and more than 3,800 sports grounds.

@meduzalive