From the Editor's Desk

Putin’s Children - Foreign Affairs

More than two and a half years after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his “special military operation” in Ukraine, the disproportionate effects on Russian youth have become clear. At home, young people face ubiquitous indoctrination and greater constraints on their freedom. Many try to distract themselves from this new reality, not paying too much attention to it; the very few who express their discontent openly—or do things like trying to set fire to a military recruitment center—are sometimes punished with harsh prison sentences despite their young age. 

Military service, which applies to all Russian men between the ages of 18 and 30 who don’t have an exemption from the army, has become especially fraught. Although by law conscripts (as opposed to volunteers, contract soldiers, and those who have been specifically mobilized) cannot end up in a war zone, not everyone now believe that the military maintains this restriction. In other words, a fundamental feature of the conflict is that Putin and his aging Politburo are deciding for the younger generations not only how to live but also how to die.

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