Over the past five years, Russian authorities have allocated at least 50 billion rubles to create centers where schoolchildren attend mandatory military training camps. This was reported by the TV channel Vot Tak.
As of 2026, a significant share of these camps is being held at the Avangard training and methodology centers. In September 2025, 147 such institutions were operating across Russian regions.
According to calculations by Vot Tak, at least 36.5 billion rubles was allocated to Avangard centers from the budgets of 39 Russian regions, including annexed Crimea. The most expensive facility was the center in the Patriot park outside Moscow, where 13.6 billion rubles was spent on construction and maintenance.
There is also another network of military-patriotic centers, called Voin. These institutions operate in 17 regions of Russia and in four occupied regions of Ukraine. Unlike Avangard, these centers are financed from the federal budget. Vot Tak found that more than 15 billion rubles has already been spent on their construction and upkeep.
Mandatory camps for schoolchildren
Military training camps became mandatory for Russian schoolchildren on September 1, 2023, when they were added to the curriculum of the subject Fundamentals of Homeland Security and Defense.
Under the program, 10th-grade students must spend five days at the camps, while 8th-grade students are required to attend for three days. During this time, schoolchildren wear uniforms, undergo drill training, learn to shoot, handle weapons, and operate drones, and also take part in patriotic education activities.
Schoolchildren who attended the camps told Vot Tak that they encountered attempts to recruit them into the army and security agencies, as well as pressure to apply to military universities.