Russian schools must more than double the amount of instruction time devoted to teaching children basic military training, starting with the next academic year, the nation’s education minister announced on Telegram on June 25.

A course for grades 6–11, “Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland,” previously allocated 20 percent of its curriculum to direct military training. The new law increases this to 50 percent, effective September 1.

Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov said the lessons will include “the study of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), as well as field training exercises.” This portion of the course requires classrooms to be equipped with mock weapons, including Makarov pistols, AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades for students to familiarize themselves with.

The course contains 34 hours of instruction for the school year, so Kravtsov’s announcement means it will now devote some 17 hours to basic military training.

The other half of the course is mainly instruction on related topics, such as Russian military history, first aid during wartime, post-graduation military enlistment and the penalties for failing to comply with Russia’s military conscription laws.

The news follows an April announcement that Russia’s ultra-nationalistic course, “Conversations About Important Things,” would be expanded into some preschools in Russia and Russia-occupied Ukraine. The course’s purpose is to teach children to “cultivate respect for the culture and history of Russia” and become “worthy citizens.” It has been described as a companion course for “Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland,” and has been compulsory for high school students since 2022 when Russia began waging full-scale war on Ukraine. The decision to push it into preschools came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said last year that the course should be taught to the nation’s “youngest children.”

“At the very earliest age,” Putin said in a meeting with Russian schoolteachers, “we must instill certain basic things in a child.”

Fodder for Future Wars

This type of education aims to make these young people unswervingly loyal to Putin’s Russia so they will become soldiers in his future wars.

In 2005, Putin famously called the Soviet Union’s collapse the 20th century’s “greatest geopolitical catastrophe,” and he has made clear in the years since that he aims to reverse the “catastrophe” by retaking not just Ukraine but also the Baltic nations, Moldova, the Caucasus and even Central Asia and parts of Poland and Romania. For Russians to feel a degree of geographic security, they need to take control of this peripheral land. To gain that control, the current children must grow up ready to fight.

So from as young as age 3, schoolchildren are being taught the worldview that Putin wishes them to hold. This includes the beliefs that:

• Ukraine did not truly exist until the 20th century and never should have been split from Russia.
• The United States arranged a coup in Ukraine in 2014 and installed an American puppet regime.
• After some residents of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas declared independence from this U.S.-backed puppet regime and pledged allegiance to Moscow, “Nazified” Ukrainians spent eight years trying to exterminate them.
• Today, Russia is not at “war” with Ukraine but is conducting a noble “special peacekeeping operation” to protect people who have been subjected to persecution and genocide.
• And in the broader narrative, Russia is the victim—one that the West has long opposed and never treated fairly.
• America’s ultimate objective is to destroy Russia, and it is using Ukraine as a pawn to achieve that goal.

Those are the basics of what young children in Russia and Russia-occupied Ukraine are learning. As they grow older, in grades 6–11, they are learning to become the muscle that will fight to accomplish Putin’s goals in the Russian periphery and beyond.

The ‘Prince’ of Russia

Vladimir Putin’s malice and long-term thinking are sobering. And they take on great significance when viewed in the light of biblical prophecy. In the Trumpet’s September 2014 issue, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote: “We need to watch Vladimir Putin closely. He is the ‘prince of Rosh’ that God inspired Ezekiel to write about 2,500 years ago!”

Mr. Flurry’s article takes a careful look at Bible prophecies about a multinational Asian power that will form in the near future and field an army of 200 million soldiers (Revelation 9:16). He called special attention to Ezekiel 38:2, which labels the individual who will lead this Asian army the “prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” (Young’s Literal Translation).

Meshech and Tubal are ancient names representing the modern Russian cities of Moscow and Tobolsk. Rosh is a variation of Rus, an ancient name for Russia. This is supported by the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary as well as the Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments.

Ezekiel describes future wars that will be prosecuted by this Asian power, led by the “prince of Rosh.” Placing these prophecies alongside Putin’s history of aggression and his planning for future wars, Mr. Flurry wrote:

I strongly believe Vladimir Putin is going to lead the 200 million-man army. Just look at the power he already has. Can you think of any other Russian politician who could become so powerful and have the will to lead Russia into the crisis of crises? I see nobody else on the horizon who could do that. And only a tiny few years remain for the prince of Rosh to appear!

This 200 million-man army will be far larger than any ever assembled in human history. Most of the troops will come from countries that ally with Russia under Putin’s power, such as China. But many of the Russian schoolchildren who are currently learning the rudiments of modern warfare will also grow up to take their place among its ranks.

It is clear that a grim future lies ahead for Russia, Ukraine and the whole world. In The Prophesied ‘Prince of Russia,’ Mr. Flurry stresses that this darkness will not last long and will give way to a hope-filled epoch. He writes:

Vladimir Putin is a sign, literally a sign … of one of the most inspiring messages in the Bible. What we are seeing in Russia ultimately leads to the transition from man ruling man to God ruling man! … A great transition is about to occur.

To comprehend the details of these biblical prophecies and what Mr. Flurry calls “the most inspiring message in the Bible,” order your free copy of The Prophesied ‘Prince of Russia.’