up next, a dw documentary looks at this information in well show about pressing into a lot of improvements board in ukraine. unlike look. and thanks for watching and do stay with each of the, not just another day. so much is happening all at once. we take time to understand this is the day i'm in that's look at current use events, analyzed by experts and critical thinking is weekdays on dw, the

news news, news, news, all of the hi. my name is olga stuff on around the patriotic ministry support send . so with the youth ami the chose russian soldiers are fulfilling med duty to them up and then while they're defending the russian world, we're training out children and that was to prepare for the difficulties. i had just stick with the period. see, i'm going to be for firing, so you have to release the safety and then hold your breath in the way of your calling tense. what did just tell you?

i'm beginning to lose my patience. how many times do i have to tell you? things can go wrong if you don't follow the safety rules that you come here. those supposed to just watch with teaching them here will shape them later in life . the lot of they should know how to use a gun, which is interesting. they need to be prepared with the physical more, renee, the actual, the sheer. and how do i see the future of my homeland? i see from the powerful russia if any

assistance simply about 30 minutes rising indeed, not so fine ukraine. the whole western world is hostile and backstabbing. it has to be fundamentally reformed. russia will destroy it, but i see on the, on the 24th of february, 2022, our world changed. the tanks rolled into crank and foams began to rain down from the sky. the aggressor is russia our homeland. many russians support the attack unconditionally. the others are absolutely

horrifying by what is going on the we are cassini of both dakota and veronica dormant journalists with russian roots who grew up in the west. at the end of 2022, we decided to travel across our parents homeland to try to understand how the russian people could have fallen into this madness. by night. by night, the bullshit the, what we documented is a closed off russia full of hatred and violence where young people are being sacrificed for the suppose it good of the country. and fantasies of empire building

have clouded people's minds. the i'm old school at the soviet union gave me everything to a good education. unbelief in the future. i was 20 in 1991 when the us this all collapses. i didn't want to accept it at the time. it seems, it was very painful for me because it just came with the bulk of sophomore and grew up in the little hand screeching in what was then the

ukrainian soviet socialist republic after the collapse of the soviet union. she initially worked as a lawyer in russia, but when war broke out and don bass and eastern ukraine in 2014 son joined the pro russian step protests, the she was tasked with delivering humanitarian aid to fighters and civilians on the front lines. or if it's something dizzy me up or what the what shouldn't. i was todd in the don't last for over 10 years i assume. but once the situation that was saved and i, as i knew i needed to do something else that was made 2016. right. when our defense minister sat a showing who created this movement is all the division of

narnia as a ministry patriotic use, ami um, any of those in a, you know, near cadet must be a role model for the every one of the patriots. pretty good. so it is the, you know, army of recruits, children and young people between the ages of 6 to 18. it's a sprawling organization which dozens of local groups throughout russia. in 2016, the movement had just 25000 members. today, you know, army accounts over 1200000 members the it's top cadets march in the annual may. 9th military parade in moscow is red

square. it's as if we've gone back in time to a dangerous past with their reading bays, uniforms and indoctrinated mines these marchers remind us of nazi germany's hitler used feels yearly like the 1930 under the pretext of promoting patriotism. normally a has been firmly embedded in the public school curriculum. the or the we find only one russian school willing to open its doors to us. school number 36. like many other schools. it's had its own, you know, army a unit since 2019 the

young cadets have special privileges and they get the honor of marching with the russian flag in front of the assembled student body. the the in september 2022, with russia's war of aggression against ukraine raging. this ceremony was made compulsory for all schools in the country. the, the goal is for all students to be aligned with the safe side, the elegy, and internalizing symbols. the

what are the good, what good morning children. i welcome you to our conversations about important things today. december 5th, our country is celebrating volunteer day. we're going to talk about the people making our well right to and happy every day. we always do it officially. the one our lesson is intended to instill value such as comradery in these youngsters, and teach them about the history of the country here. i think i will keep this phrase in mind while you watch the video to live means to act. but really it's brain washing. the issue is let me put you on hold on to these videos are put out by the education ministry. this one seems pretty harmless,

but the very 1st one was definitely not yet. let's go with him at them today. we want to make sense of what's going on soon. we'll be talking about the events in ukraine with, you know, green data. there's this video shows sophia, to mexico, a 12 year old school girl who was interviewing a journalist from russian state tv and a russian historian with close government ties. the segment is intended to explain what vladimir putin recalls his special military operation. but in this conversation, the roles have been reversed. russia is portrayed as the victim forced to defend itself after being attacked by ukraine. we, you're the queen. we don't attack residential buildings. i mean, we never strike civilians. we don't, we don't destroy social infrastructure like kindergarten. these or some rules or water or power networks on see keeping up when you might know,

i understand that i need to be extra careful about the news. i want this down from now on chat. i will double check everything over the date. the video was published on march 3rd, 2022, only 8 days after the war. at the con, within a very short time, 20000000 russian school children had watched it. and some schools responded with their own performances and supported the propaganda. the to the search. so is it usually to see what the letter z 1st appeared on russian tanks and has since become known as a propagandist symbol for the russian war of aggression? the weather in saint petersburg, the tamara

more novo, it's appears. principles all over russia have their pupils pose and z formation. social media is filled with post, showing schools trying to outdo each other and they're over the top shows of patriotism, the good news to china choosing co and i'm a teacher at must go school numbers. 1747. as long as i'm able, i'll keep speaking out on behalf of all the teachers who disagree with the system. and the goal is to succeed simply. tatiana knows she's taking a big risk by talking to us, but she's determined to speak openly on camera,

about her convictions. your, i know the content of these conversations about important things that we're supposed to talk about, the special ministry operation and teach 9 year old children that they shouldn't be afraid to die for that homeland or is that what i can't teach something like that? sure. yet if she wasn't in each a little bit of roadwork him the 1st time the kids was supposed to have patriotism lessons to fit you, i stood in front of the class and said that we should all be patriots. and since this is actually a mass, less than the most patriotic thing to do now is to solve a few math problems because that's what you want to go. but mostly just, we're just under the bed. as a member of russia's only independent teacher's union, tatiana decided to go public. i guess today is catchy on that. you've been called is math teacher at school, 1747. on september 7th,

2022. she gave an interview on dish and opposition tv, channel band and russia. this is a very serious issue because it concerns our children. this conversation resulted in a written reprimand for tatiana, which was sent to the principal. the document was titled violations of professional duties by a teacher enlisted her legit violations. in january 2023, tatiana was dismissed from his conduct. it was, it still later here was a very strict hierarchy in every state institution, but anyways, this development has been particularly noticeable in our educational institutions in recent years skim. oh, but as long as at the throughout the day you are towards the to a was to assist an individual that was the faith. you are just a tiny coke in the wheel and that there are many of the little cokes just like you

couldn't use. and none of us special in any way because of these are some of the most of it stolen. tiny, cogs in the great big state machine. under vladimir putin, russians have become submissive citizens. but that wasn't always the case. the, the, in the winter of 2011 anger boiled over in russia's major cities as the russian middle class learned of the massive voter fraud that helped hooton's party when the parliamentary elections. the

video. we took over to be sure you installed when the elections were stolen from us citizens and december, 2011 loop loop demonstrate to hold onto the streets and squares of the cities community. even though media that's presidency had only been characterized by how fault and liberalization, there was still some relax ations during those 4 years and without any bitterly though. even calling the phrase, the freedom is better than lack of freedom. oh, my god, how beforehand that woke russians office of the items brave enough to develop that political ryan, this media news is a frontier to police interest. at the time we were working as moscow correspondence for french media outlets and

reporting on the protests as franko russian citizens. we also believed in the people's uprising, especially the anti movement with its charismatic leaders. like forest ma'am, saw the bill. yeah, yeah. i've seen i've seen the, the, the, who, the government was one of the come with fear it was to be that sort of the protests could potentially turn into a revolution if i knew that to kick the whole russian machinery of repression. that you know, it's a gash really email to each the after his re election as president in march 2012 flat him. you're putting

consolidated, his authoritarian regimes power, state violence became the norm in russia. the last major opposition demonstration in the country took place on may 6th, 2012 resulting and clashes were riot. police beat up demonstrators and arbitrarily arrested dozens of people. in addition to this obvious repression, the government pursued a strategic plan to crush the uprising and make russians forget any dreams of over throwing the reason, the losing both the regimes, trying to scare the population and when their support simultaneously did you. immediately after the spring, the regime had a clear message for russian society. just look still, you really want such a bloody revolution on the streets of your cities. so people, fonts can, equipment,

may not be good, know, but at least he's keeping order in the country fiction like which led to more and more demonstrators distancing themselves from the liberal opposition to the notice that all of the, the threat of a revolution also brought back painful memories of the chaos that are up to the 1991 after the cool opposite the soviet union, the afraid of losing what little progress had been made. in the 1st years of the new millennium, most russian citizens decided to submit and trade their freedom. for security, the little by little a whole arsenal of repressive laws was enacted. demonstrations were gradually band and g o's dissolved, and the free press muscle, the

slowly a shroud was being lowered over our country. meanwhile the opposition leaders who spearheaded the 2011 revolt were now in exile, did or in prison november 7th, 2020 to one of the final hearings in the trial against ileo yashimi was held in the moscow court room. the opposition leader was on trial for violating a new article of the russian penal code. he faced up to 15 years in prison for

defamation of the armed forces. he was accused of posting a video on the internet in which he denounced the war crimes committed by russian soldiers and boucher ukraine. on december 9th, 2022. only a few weeks after his last hearing. ilya was sentenced to 8 and a half years in prison without per all. this was the toughest sentence ever handed out under the new law. and it came as a big shock to us. 8 and a half years just for speaking out the, our country has been plunged into dark times since the start of the war against ukraine in 2022. fascism has been on the rise in russia. and even children are now being persecuted for dissenting. the

10 year old vari, a gal, kina is a 5th grade student in a moscow suburb. in september 2020 to various teacher reported her to the police for offense. having this picture on her cell phone, or dumpling, a st with a rocket launcher under the banner glory to ukraine. and having drawn this picture, showing a russian and a ukrainian child under the words. yes, a mere meaning. i'm for peace. the on october 5th, sorry, is mother elena was called to the school. it marks the beginning of a terrible nightmare for the family then that i was in

a russian class and had no idea what it was all about. i thought it was because i had got a bad rate in my on a j a. mr. but when i sold a police woman, i quick, he ran nice but it wasn't about biology. no, i was waiting outside the school for various and then i saw her come out of the door with a police woman saw by the police. women said to me, barriers coming to the police station near full. i was in shock and various don't to cry. just didn't she scream to start kissing me mommy, mommy, mommy. but they wouldn't let me see my daughter the to the other month, but the details done is young way. we were surrounded by mothers and fathers waiting for the children. i shouted to them. someone has to film this, i'm going to do, but they just stood there staring at the ground and pretend that they hadn't seen anything. the

stuff at the police station via and her mother were questioned by the police and an agent from the f. s. b, the russian security service, the duties support politically. what tv shows do you watch at home? can you give us your cell phone and show us the news? your posting on social media? the police search the family home without a warrant. they ransacked every single room and went through alaina's computer. the only incriminating object they were able to find was the souvenir from keys of the ocean corditis, which was in the evening off. it was, it was uh, i sat down with valerie on off to what's on your mind. what was because she looked

at me and said, should we need to get the hell out of here, mom? what about that? i had to last and i knew she would be fine. what's the bunk of something by march 15th 2023. 19000. 586 people had been arrested for making statements critical of the war. the proceeded by, which was in russia. any form of activism that hasn't been initiated by the authorities is considered suspicious. and as soon as something is critical of the government, it's immediately banned because the ship, the alexander cha, costs of had to flee russia. he's the leader of memorial russian human rights

organization, working under constant pressure from the russian authorities until it was finally shut down by a russian court. for more than 30 years, memorial has documented the crimes of the soviet regime and was awarded the nobel peace prize in 2022. they also criticized pollutants constant efforts to rewrite freshman history for his own purposes. store to know what's up to here in the history of our country and the 20th century is a series of tragedies out of school by the revolution. the civil war, the terror under stolen and the famine. yep. the current government presents all of these as individual catastrophes that just fell us out of nowhere is it, the political leadership had nothing to do with it. they should see the 1st if it gets there. so there's a couple of us that's, that that's ridiculous because the terror was politically motivated or but the state and it security services have managed to whitewash the story so that they

appear in a sense of last, according to them, everything was for our own good to me, even if they may be over step, if you boundaries in the process with a specific one, you've 6 busting the a benefactor state that always emerges victorious. that's the idea that vladimir putin has instilled in the russians by exploiting a key historical event. the victory over nazi germany in 1945, the when we arrive in moscow, red square is unrecognizable soldiers and world war 2 uniforms are marching here. in commemoration, 81 years ago, the red army marched into battle from this same spot,

courage and to roast of them are glorified, personal sacrifice for the motherland portrayed as the highest honor. but the horrors of the war and the 27000000 lives it claimed are largely ignored by the temporary near the remembrance of war and victory, as always been associated with a terrible memories of human loss. but now this part of history has become distorted in people's minds. it comes for we've gone from never again to to, we can do it again for some studies. the images from 19412022 are being shown side by side on giant screen. we feel a deep sense of unease. the commemoration is a clear attempt to justify russians war against ukraine. these 2 arrows have become so intertwined that people are left with only one thought. the 300000 russians call to serve their country and the war against

ukraine must live up to the sacrifices of their ancestors. this narrative has russia fighting the same old enemy. nazis who have invaded ukraine and want to attack russia, ordered that the will strip down will carry. russia is fighting nazis in ukraine. you gotta be kidding me. president, to put it bluntly, the president of ukraine is on your go, a jewish annuity. consider ukrainian is really candidate named have benefits, receive more votes and the last election that his rival from the right wing nationalist party said, oh, okay, and that's sister. and yet the kremlin constantly claims that ukraine is keeping with nazis alluded to this nimble. it doesn't make any sense. there's no logic to it as long as the customer doesn't renew and it can then again, why bother with logic when your goal is to turn people against something. the

soldiers being sent to ukraine are being glorified. russia's new heroes are watching over us on every street corner and they keep being sent to the front by the thousands. it's estimated that by 2023 more than 200000 russians were killed or wounded in combat. our country has become in human, a cannibalistic regime, as the russian say, a country that devours its own children, the books just, it's in russian society and that most men aren't allowed to be cowards schuman anymore. so they have to be real warriors and big machine, a boy in the yellow

to watch a file. yeah, my name is pablo flat, the f for this i felt as a member of the 56 app on a soap regiment for the 1st 2 months or more new crime is a because i criticized the ball by july to leave the regiment. some fremont country, so since you have the right to move that out. so the but i could go on and talk about my honesty, my moral finance and my upfront current. but honestly, i couldn't imagine going through another 6 months of pool. i don't know what kind of person i would be today. it was kind of atrocities already committing raping bombing of residential areas, looting, torturing and killing civilians. in december 2022, the ukrainian prosecutor general's office stated that it was already investigating

40000 cases of russian war crimes the way. yeah. through jakes, almost the colors around me really believed in the stories about nazis and fascist . and they split the, they were full of hatred against the crime by one of the russian army has special offices who are responsible for the origin, logical education of the true story, this chest designated to come and do it up all the. ready related to like school that will be coming back and one hour a week here. all the soldiers account within the launch really where your muscles and the lessons are based on the documents passed down from on high input. like i thought, a windows employees design, yet we have one of these documents. it is dated 26th of february 2020, to $2.00 days after russia invited ukraine. the $48.00 page report is titled the whole truth about ukraine's crimes in the done bass. it sets out the reasons

for russia's military intervention, reason number one for russia's actions, state directed naziism persecution, and murder of russian speaking people. it goes on to say, in ukraine, people are beaten up for speaking russian, fired from their job for speaking russian. this persecution is sanctioned by the ukraine authorities. the document also contains a series of unbearable images, photos of dead children and chart corpse as depicted as victims of the genocide of russian speaking people allegedly taking place in ukraine. the report states that ukraine with the support of the west is preparing for an attack on russia, possibly including a nuclear striking. this distortion of facts often using in authentic or falsified images contributes to the dehumanization of the enemy, the resumes prop again,

the measures of taking on new dimensions since the beginning of the war and ukraine . and not just in the military barracks, the war mongering and conspiracy theories have also taken root in the minds of ordinary russian civilians. the show my city is surrounded by mountains and it's like living in a cold drink. we spend our last night in russia with ludmilla. she is 83 years old from the way she built on us and loves her tv shows. she could just as easily be one of our own grandmothers daily news just by what you all the reports from the whole and political programs. as is the case for 75 percent of russians,

state television is their only source of information. and that's the best that they need to. i should have changed into a new used to f e. never. i just even just a tiny piece. if you crane you will go down in history is affect tucker, but be due to the other. the way to ask for best, who is he supposed deliberate it from? lots of stuff. no opportunity from the nazis. from the people who bump don't and can new hands for h. yes. before. who was doing the bombing? they did. you don't believe it. we can see it with our own eyes on the tv, couldn't we see how the people there are cheering in the streets of it's to lead me low, wasn't always such a big fan of flat america. she's angry with him for having raised the retirement age in 2018 for changing the constitution in 2020 to keep himself in power in definitely for enriching himself on the backs of the russian. people so useless

where you meet. you don't know if he hadn't done his job properly. country would it be doing well now, so not that my daughter always says tamika mom. she doesn't give a damn about you or anyone else, and he doesn't need the russian people know. what do you think of him? what's going on? what you're likely woke up when the war broke out. it brought him a new kind of respect off if the world is against us. but he refuses to back down. some of the strongest countries in the world have done dep on him and want to white brush are off the map and i'm not the store but i see you use. how are we supposed to respond to that? sure, we nature more than a cruise saying that to the television, we might, you might have one option you will have. my mother is a smart woman who has worked in management positions or her life. she's full of energy and joy and doesn't just believe everything she's told you because on the

truck, because they were due to the chief when you want. yeah. to suffice derivative one. looking on the work one morning, she said to me on the phone deep down, everyone knows what's really going on. yeah. but we don't want to admit this to you because need some immediate your model just. i was happy to hear her say that and even sent a message to my friends saying it was a small success. yes. and is it can use the next time i called her she started talking about the native threat again about ukrainians having to be saved from the oppression of fascism versus the propaganda. had his family and its good again. natasha markovich lived meal as daughter has been living in london for several years. as a psychologist, she says she recognizes the phenomenon that's affecting the russian population. her mother included

the according to her, the whole nation is afflicted with a mental illness. indeed certainly message. it's called a shed psychotic disorder. as soon as the war started, i saw a typical science of russians being thrown into a coach. the way it works is you don't have much self confidence and thinks your life has no meaning is it gives you what, then someone comes along who offers you some external structure. and that for a reason to live viewing develops heritage. and because according to him, you are not a good for nothing but a representative of the great russian nation who cannot see the rest and all the people who say otherwise and try to get you to leave the cult of the bad guys. the, the evils and you and they were all parish in the file. what i need to cause little . yeah. new paul given me your to convince someone to leave

a cult. you 1st have to distance them from it says natasha. a seemingly impossible task when the whole population of a country with 140000000 inhabitants is effected. natasha talks to her mother on the phone several times a week. she tries to snap ludmilla out of her propaganda induced hypnosis. only for a few minutes. to me a favor and natasha stop saying bad things about russia and bringing shame on me. dress ma'am. what are you talking about this? every shame me supporting the russian war against you. crane and not doing what you can. is there any mom there in data? is terrorist don't listen to your old neighbors. they believe everything that told it's a nightmare in russia cruise has been turned on its head to the store. never mind

despite their differences, mother and daughter still talk to each other. but that's not the case in many russian families. russians who are against the war. people like natasha and like us, are having an identity crisis. our mother tongue has become the language of weapons and lights. it causes as pain, we never knew before. you would you all know though to switch, i feel guilty. i'm ashamed to be russian, but of course i'm not throwing problems, but i can't completely observe myself of what's going on. i feel really miserable coming from the aggressive state. but at the same time i have no right to complain. i'm not the one who's suffering the ukrainians. uh the consequences. let's end with a toast. just as a soviet dissidence used to

a toast to victory and the fight between life and death is when things are going badly. i always think back to the discipline as that came before us. they give me hope that all is not yet lost. in russia, even the longest periods of horror have always come to a very abrupt and destroy the, you know, too much export. i hope the russia stuff is at the fee, so the bottom of the country is forced to question itself either by them. so the futon is arbitrage a lot in russia can reinvent itself from within because in its current state. so when the russia is not compatible with the 21st century, good or

the answer of the conflict. so after eas, riley, mrs. killing 7 for an aid workers in gaza strip in hopes of the humanitarian situation. my e, i'm a desperately needed food, can begin to reach the hundreds of thousands of risk of funding for how realistic of those hopes, i guess there's yeah, mega and hadn't been the wage and refugee council for decades of experience and the humanitarian steel conflict in the same it is like out of d, w, the news will tell you the

story. we have a getting a visa is more difficult than finding gold hosted to use force and for the future in the stories and issues that are being discussed across the country. news africa in 90 minutes on d. w. the crises every single connection mapped out shows the geophysical reality. the on the board is what makes things the way they are mapped out, navigating each aging work. now on youtube the

this is dw news line from berlin. a start warning from japan on the thread from china, japan's prime minister for me. ok, she does tell us the us congress. beijing is the biggest danger to international peace and stability. also coming up, present, invite in promises. israel, iron clad support. that pledge comes as it's fewer to ron, could retaliate. point is really striking on the wrong, an embassy in syria, and a real estate tycoon sentenced to death in vietnam. his biggest fraud case felt guilty of investigating 12 and a half $1000000000.00.