Children carrying guns and flags or wearing Soviet-style uniforms have become a common sight at Victory Day parades and other events in Russian-controlled Crimea. Russian and Ukrainian human rights activists have warned that such displays point to a growing trend of promoting Russian patriotism among kids on the Crimean peninsula, annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Alongside public events, many schools offer paramilitary classes, and children from age 8 are invited to enroll in Yunarmiya, a Russian patriotic youth movement. Here: A young participant carries a toy gun in Sevastopol, Crimea, during the Immortal Regiment march on Victory Day, observed on May 9, 2019. (Photo by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)





The annual Immortal Regiment march is held in Russian towns and cities, as well as in Russian-controlled Crimea, to honor those who died in World War II. Critics say the Kremlin hijacked the event after it began as a grassroots movement in 2012. (Photo by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)





Children in Sevastopol wear the orange and black ribbon of St. George, a Russian military symbol. (Photo by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)





Children wait to place flowers by the eternal flame in a park named after cosmonaut Yury Gagarin in Simferopol, Crimea. (Photo by Oleksandra Surgan/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)





Kids wear replicas of Soviet military uniforms during a performance titled “We are the heirs of victory” on April 19 in Sevastopol. (Photo by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)





Students of a local military-patriotic club perform during a festive event marking the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Yevpatoriya, Crimea on February 23, 2019. (Photo by Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters)





New recruits attend a swear-in ceremony before joining the Russian military-patriotic club “Yunarmia” (Young army) in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Crimea, October 27, 2018. (Photo by Pavel Rebrov/Reuters)





Students of a local military-patriotic club perform during a festive event marking the Defender of the Fatherland Day in Yevpatoriya, Crimea on February 23, 2019. (Photo by Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters)





A young Crimean girl wears military-type clothes during a Victory Day celebration in Sevastopol on May 9, 2018. (Photo by Oleksandra Surgan/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)