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. Here: 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)

A picture taken on March 16, 2017 shows women dressed up as mermaids posing by a pool at a mermaid training school in Moscow. Russian women who have dreamt of becoming a mermaid since their youngest years, start turning their fantasies into reality with a new type of fitness – mermaid swimming. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)

A street performer walks past an image of a Russian serviceman reading “The Motherland we defend” at a street exhibition of military photos in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, March 14, 2023. A campaign to replenish Russian troops in Ukraine with more soldiers appears to be underway again, with makeshift recruitment centers popping up in cities and towns, and state institutions posting ads promising cash bonuses and benefits to entice men to sign contracts enabling them to be sent into the battlefield. (Photo by AP Photo/Stringer)

An instructor guides a student from the General Yermolov Cadet School as she aims with a gun during a field exercise outside the south Russian city of Stavropol January 24, 2015. The General Yermolov Cadet School in Stavropol is a state-run institution that teaches military and patriotic classes in addition to a normal syllabus. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)

Russian Police academy female cadets march during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, May 7, 2014. Victory Day, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, is Russia's most important secular holiday celebrated on May 9. (Photo by Dmitry Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A serviceman walks near an APC while a helicopter flies on the position of the Ukrainian troops in Donetsk region on August 9, 2014. Fighting with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine has left 13 troops dead in the last 24 hours, Ukraine's military said Saturday. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP Photo)

A marine aims an RPG-7, a portable rocket- propelled grenade launcher, during military exercises conducted by the Russian Pacific Fleet' s naval infantry unit at the Bamburovo firing range on February 2, 2017. The drills are a part of preparations for the Suvorov Attack and Sniper Line army competitions. (Photo by Yuri Smityuk/TASS)

Russian servicewomen march at Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9, 2017. Russia marks the 72nd anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)