Children enlisted to shoot and burn effigies of European leaders as ‘enemies of Russia’ in occupied Donbas

In a grotesque twist to the ‘Maslenitsa’ festivities that Russia is foisting on occupied parts of Ukraine, effigies have been burned of European Union President Ursula von der Leyen; France’s President Emmanuel Macron and ex-prime minister of the UK, Boris Johnson.  In a video of the event, young adults wearing traditional gear are given rifles which they use at portraits of the three, who are claimed to be “enemies of Russia”. 

Although Maslenitsa is celebrated during the last week before Lent, a lot of the festivities have pagan roots.  These include the burning of an effigy on a bonfire, with the latter supposed to be the earth awakening from sleep and setting the cold winter alight.  

This is quite different from the violent effigy-burning in occupied Donetsk on Thursday, 27 February.  The event, and the purported justification for it, were widely reported by Russia’s state-controlled propaganda media.  RIA Novosti quoted Sergei Dobrovolsky, head of the ruling United Russia’s ‘Young Guard [Molodaya gvardia] as describing the Maslenitsa festivities in occupied Donetsk. 

“Well, and what kind of Maslenitsa would it be without the burning of effigies. We therefore decided to burn these enemies of our country, enemies of Russiak these disobedient, bad comrades.”

RIA Novosti added its own line, claiming that von der Leyen, Macron and Johnson are among the western politicians who are actively speaking out for giving Kyiv weapons.  These it claims, as Russian propaganda has, without proof, since early 2014, are supposedly used by Ukraine’s Armed Forces to shell peaceful cities in Donbas. 

Worth noting that a similar stunt was reported in occupied Luhansk in 2024, with the effigies then of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the then US President Joe Biden.  With President Donald Trump and his administration eagerly discussing the building of ties with Russia and a ‘ceasefire’, with only Ukraine forced to make concessions, it is no longer the US President’s effigy that gets burned, but those of European leaders who are still taking a hard line with respect to the Russian aggressor state. 

Even without such incitement to violence and enmity, Russia’s ‘Maslenitsa’ festivities are very different from Ukrainian tradition.  Ukraine’s National Resistance Centre notes that Russia is pushing such festivities and the national costumes as a way of denying Ukrainian identity and foisting the idea of a shared cultural identity with Russia

They are also part of Russia’s militarization of childhood on occupied territory, with ‘Young Guard’ having brought together senior school children and students for its stun. Some of them can be seen shooting at the effigies with machine guns, before ‘Ursula von der Leyen, Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson’ are set om fire.

The East Human Rights Group has reported that the Russian invaders are “turning schools into military camps”.  More than half the schools on occupied territory have updated military offices, and schoolkids are getting lessons in military training, where they use real weapons and drones, but models. 

“Anti-extremism, anti-terrorism, tactical medicine and ‘defence of the fatherland’ have been included in the curriculum, with this effectively preparation for war. This is not ‘education’, but systematic militarization of teenagers whom the Kremlin is preparing for its future wars.”