Patriots are not up to games – Kommersant

In Moscow’s Victory Park on Poklonnaya Gora, the three-day All-Russian Patriotic Forum “Your Hero” began its work on Monday. Its opening was timed by the organizers from the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) to coincide with the Day of Russia. Participants of the business program from relevant departments and volunteer organizations intend to discuss the right approaches to working with the younger generation, and ordinary visitors are offered a dozen activities, mostly united by military field topics. The first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, who opened the forum, called work with youth the second front line in the confrontation with anti-Russian forces.

The main tasks of the event were quite exhaustively defined by President Vladimir Putin, whose welcoming telegram immediately after the Russian national anthem, performed by the children’s choir, was read out by Sergei Kiriyenko. “During the forum, you will be able to exchange experiences, discuss a wide range of topical issues, visit large-scale exhibition events in Victory Park,” the president noted. You are doing a lot to educate the younger generation on unshakable moral values, the ideals of patriotism and citizenship, the richest cultural and spiritual heritage.” Mr. Putin also expressed hope that the event would “give a start” to thematic ideas and initiatives.

On his own behalf, Mr. Kiriyenko added that it was impossible to choose a better date and place for holding a patriotic forum. “Today we all understand more than ever, and on Russia Day it is felt especially acutely that we have to fight for our country, for sovereignty, for the right to choose our own future,” the Kremlin spokesman said. “We got a great country, for which our grandfathers and grandparents paid a heavy price. Often at the cost of their lives. And today is the time for our generations to contribute to the defense of their country.”

A living example of such a contribution are the participants of the military operation in Ukraine, Sergey Kiriyenko continued.

A dozen of the fighters present in the hall were greeted by the forum participants with a storm of applause, and the first deputy head of the administration noted that many of them intend to continue the fight on the ideological front as well – just in terms of educating young people.

“It is important when this is done by a person who is not just convinced, but who, by his deeds, deeds and exploits, has proved his moral right to talk about real patriotism,” Mr. Kiriyenko explained. The educational work itself, according to him, is now akin to being at the forefront: “Without being able to cope with today’s generation of Russians, our enemies have only one chance left: to try to fight for what the next generations, today’s schoolchildren, will believe in. This is a struggle for beliefs, for true patriotism, which must be passed on from generation to generation, this is also the front line.”

Participants of the business program of the forum will discuss plans for battles on the patriotic front for three days

Among the topics of panel discussions and seminars are “The use of modern technologies in work on counter-propaganda with schoolchildren”, “Educational work to protect traditional Russian spiritual and moral values ​​among the youth”, “Mechanisms for non-financial support for young professionals”, etc. At this time, various forms of patriotic cultural leisure were offered, also for the most part tied to military field or military-historical topics.

By noon on June 12, according to a Kommersant correspondent, at least 500 people took part in the forum events.

Activities for them are organized by DOSAAF, the All-Russian Student Rescue Corps, volunteer units of Rosmolodezh and Russian universities. Visitors, for example, were offered to carry out cardiopulmonary resuscitation of a dummy, answer questions about the Great Patriotic War, study in detail samples of modern Russian small arms, write a letter to the soldiers of the Northern Military District, purchase crafts from the children of Donbass, etc. And in the tent of the project “Your Hero” (a program under which officials intend to involve veterans of the Northern Military District in educational work), an opportunity was announced to communicate with participants in the special operation.

At the end of his visit to the forum, Sergei Kiriyenko also visited this pavilion. “Our guys are now moving all over the country,” Ksenia Razuvaeva, head of Rosmolodezh, introduced him to one of the veterans participating in the project. “I almost never go home,” the veteran confirmed. “So that’s good!” Sergei Kiriyenko cheered up his interlocutor, putting his arm around his shoulder in his own way. “Yes, I like it!” The fighter readily agreed.

Grigory Leiba