Inside Russia’s ‘Youth Armies’
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 7 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The "Yunarmiya" or 'Youth army' is a movement that was founded in January 2016 by the Russian government. In total, more than 1.8 million children in Russia have joined the movement. As of May 2025, more than 120,000 Youth Army graduates served in the Russian army and other security forces. The Youth Army is also actively recruting Ukrainian children in occupied regions of the country. This began in parts of Ukraine even before Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, in places like Crimea and Donbas. The children are taught to sing the Russian national anthem; kiss the Russian flag; dig trenches and handle guns. Zhanna Bezpiatchuk of BBC Ukrainian has been looking into how these Youth Armies operate in occupied regions of Ukraine.
Simon Bolivar was a nineteenth century soldier and statesman who led six countries - Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Panama - to independence from the Spanish empire and earned himself the title of ‘El Libertador’, the liberator. He left a huge legacy in South America and is still considered by many as a revolutionary hero. Growing up in Venezuela, Juan Alosno of BBC Mundo was very familiar with Bolivar's mythology, because it was taught to him in school. Even as a child, there were a couple of details that just didn't stack up for him.... so he set out to investigate.
At the end of January this year, 6 people were caned in public for violating Sharia law in Aceh, Indonesia. Caning is a common punishment for breaking Islamic law in religiously conservative Aceh, although the practice has drawn criticism from rights groups who say it's cruel. Aceh has a unique identity within Indonesia, and is the only part of the country to practice Sharia. Astudestra Ajengrastri of BBC Indonesian explains Aceh's history and why it chooses to be different from the rest of Indonesia.
This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world.
Presented by Faranak Amidi.
Produced by Laura Thomas and Caroline Ferguson
(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.8 | You're listening The Fifth Floor. |
| 0:17.6 | The Fifth Floor, you know you, listen. |
| 0:20.0 | The Fifth Floor, Farnak, Amid, Isobat. The fifth floor is You're listening. This is the fifth floor |
| 0:23.2 | Farnak Amidi, Sobath. |
| 0:26.7 | This is the fifth floor |
| 0:28.5 | at the heart of global storytelling |
| 0:31.2 | with BBC journalists from all around the world. |
| 0:35.0 | I'm your host, Faranak Amidi. |
| 0:50.9 | Thank you. from all around the world. I'm your host, Faranak Amidi. The Unarmia, or Youth Army, is a movement that was founded in January 2016 by the Russian government. |
| 0:55.8 | In total, more than 1.8 million children in Russia have joined the movement. |
| 1:04.6 | As of May 2025, more than 120,000 youth army graduates served in the Russian army and other security forces. The youth army is also actively recruiting Ukrainian children in occupied regions of the country. |
| 1:13.6 | This began in parts of Ukraine even before Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 |
| 1:19.3 | in places like Crimea and Dombas. |
| 1:23.1 | The children are taught to sing the Russian national anthem, kiss the Russian flag, dig trenches and even handle guns. |
| 1:32.1 | Jana Bespychuk of BBC Ukrainian has been looking into how these youth armies operate in occupied regions of Ukraine. |
| 1:39.7 | In Ukraine, we heard about this. |
| 1:42.4 | Youth army for a few years already. |
| 1:46.9 | Some news popped up that Russia tries to militarize the Ukrainian children in the occupation, |
| 1:53.4 | on the one hand. |
| 1:54.1 | But on the other hand, we as journalists understood that we know very little about how actually it's happening. And what we understood |
... |
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