Russian schools held classes using comics about “SVO veterans” accused of war crimes

Classes were held in Russian schools using comics about “SVO veterans” accused of war crimes

In schools across Russia, from February through April, classes were held based on collections of short stories about 15 “heroes of the SVO” by science fiction writer Oleg Roy and the Znanie Society that had been sent there; some of these veterans are accused of war crimes, Verstka noted.

The lessons were conducted for students in grades 5 through 9, often with the participation of Yunarmiya members in militarized uniforms.

“Such events help foster in young people respect for the history and feats of our heroes, and also inspire them toward achievements of their own,” says the public page of a school in the Chechen village of Eshilkhatoi.

The collections are made in the form of comics, each telling one story about each of the 15 Russian servicemen who took part in the invasion of Ukraine. Nearly half of them may be implicated in war crimes.

In particular, they include Ivan Boldyrev, who, according to the comic, “was the first in history to perform a rocket-powered ejection from a helicopter in combat.” He is listed in the “Book of Executioners” established by the Ukrainian authorities as the commander of a helicopter flight of the 319th Separate Helicopter Regiment.

Also mentioned in the “Book of Executioners” is Colonel Zalibek Umaev, chief of the engineering service of the 58th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District. Sapper Konstantin Yefremov, in an interview with Novaya Gazeta Europe, mentions Umaev as the commander who, after seven fighters were killed, ordered new troops to be used to carry out the combat mission rather than collect their comrades’ bodies.

These servicemen, along with the other comic-book heroes, are presented as fighters against “neo-Nazis.” Their actions are described, among other ways, with naturalistic pictures showing the killings of Ukrainian servicemen, or with a description of how Russian Lieutenant Colonel Maksim Shalomov had “his left arm severed.”

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