Russian children learn to shoot rifles near Norwegian border
Russian children are being trained to handle firearms and weave camouflage nets in the Pechenga urban locality, located just seven kilometers from Norway's border in the Murmansk Oblast, Norwegian media outlet NRK reported.
Thomas Nilsen, the editor of Barents Observer, posted several photos on X on Feb. 11, showing Russian children being taught to use weapons. The images included real Kalashnikov rifles as well as firearm replicas. One photo also showed a girl weaving a camouflage net.
Fact-checkers from Faktisk verified that the photos were authentic screenshots from videos and pictures originally posted on social media by Russia's Yunarmiya, a military-patriotic youth organization, NRK said.
"I thought it would be good to publish a few photos and show people, because I don't think I'm the only one surprised," Nilsen wrote.
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The children are being trained to shoot guns from a location visible to Norwegian citizens through binoculars, he said.
"We're not talking about children at the shooting range in Tivoli Gardens (an amusement park in Copenhagen) shooting air rifles. This is training for professional, adult soldiers who are teaching children to march in military formation," Palle Ydstebø, Lieutenant Colonel and director of the military school, commented on the situation.
Magnus Meland, Mayor of the border municipality Sør-Varanger, said that in light of current events, the friendship agreement between Sør-Varanger and Pechenga should now be terminated.
"This is far from the values we have in Norway. It's impossible to have friendship agreements with such city," he said.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
