People Outraged After Russian School Does Class Picture With Kindergarten Kids Holding AK-47s

Moscow (AFP) - Pictures of young Russian children posing with mock AK-47 rifles and other weapons at a kindergarten have provoked a storm of controversy, but some defended them as patriotic education. Pictures making the rounds online show boys and girls around five or six years-old posing for cameras with mock-ups of AK-47 assault rifles, a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher in their hands. Some children wear helmets or military berets, a man in fatigues standing next to them. The controversial photos were taken last week during a “patriotic class” at a kindergarten in the second city of Saint Petersburg, said a member of a club who helped organise the event and provided the replica weapons. “Why can’t children hold a weapon?” Yury Dorozhinsky, deputy head of Red Star, an organisation that teaches military history and acts as a club for World War II reenactment enthusiasts, told AFP on Thursday. “Let boys play dolls then.” He said the event was held ahead of the Defenders of the Fatherland, a Soviet-era holiday Russia marks on February 23, at the request of the kindergarten administration. “It’s silly to teach children patriotism using layman’s terms. Telling without showing would not be right.” He defended the class and photo-shoot, saying children must grow up as patriots. But he said they were not taught how to use weapons. “The sniper rifle was without a scope,” he added. The children’s parents, one of whom is a member of the Red Star club, approved of the event, Dorozhinksy said. But the pictures triggered a storm of controversy on Russian social networks. “This is simply horrible and outrageous,” commented Larisa Garmash.

We’re really outraged over this? I thought kids in Russia practically came out of the womb with an AK-47. Everyone got an assault rifle for their first birthday. Like get dressed, pack your lunch, grab your AK, and head off to kindergarten for the day. I picture recess as just a bunch of Soviet 6 year olds playing with land mines and firing off rounds on top of some frozen tundra. Gym Class is just bare knuckle boxing until one person taps out Fight Club style.

Class pictures over here in America are so soft. Its like all the tall girls in the back, all the pipsqueak boys sit on the floor in the front Indian style. Excuse me, Criss Cross Applesauce, as this dumb ass country says now. And then one dork in the middle cheesin with the little black and white sign that says what class you were. Meanwhile Russia has a whole artillery in their yearbooks. Tall girls with the AKs. Big boys with the RPG-90s. All the short kids get a silenced PP7 and the teachers hold Moonraker lasers. Every body say ” Workers of the world unite!”