In Donetsk, occupational authorities launched the “Big Brother” project, aimed at young people with pro-Ukrainian views.

Occupying forces in Donetsk have launched the “Big Brother” project, aimed at “working with difficult teenagers”, a designation they apply to pro-Ukrainian youth, as reported by the Centre for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine.

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During a “strategic session” of the “Big Brother” project in Donetsk, discussions included “labour therapy,” which, in reality, means engaging in forced labour “for the benefit of the homeland” or “for the front”.

Through this initiative, the occupiers are attempting to instil in young people the perception of exploitation as a supposed norm and part of “patriotic duty,” in defiance of all principles of international law.

The Centre noted that Russians primarily consider pro-Ukrainian youth to be “difficult teenagers”. They seek to repress and psychologically break these young people, suppressing their capacity for resistance by sending them to “preventive measures” or “re-education” in militarised organisations.

“The Kremlin actively employs similar ‘projects’ in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as part of a strategy to strip Ukrainian children of their national identity and ‘reprogram’ their consciousness with Russian narratives, integrate them into the Russian cultural and value space, cultivate hatred for Ukraine, and form a mobilization reserve for future wars,” the Center for Countering Disinformation added.

By way of background, in the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk Oblast, the occupation authorities are developing documents that would allow for the involvement of teenagers in unpaid agricultural work.