Expert: Russia is deliberately militarizing its population
More than a decade ago, the leadership of the Russian Federation developed special social-psychological programs aimed at the militarization of the country’s population, said psychologist Larisa Voloshyna in a morning interview with Krym.Realii radio.
According to Voloshyna, Russian authorities adopted programs that foster the feeling “that they are ready to serve in the armed forces of the Russian Federation.”
“Since 2005, a large number of scientific and psychological works have appeared in the Russian Federation that were supported by the state. They were called formation of social and psychological preparedness of the society to serve in the armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which included scientific programs and psychological methods of coercion. It was something unprecedented because actually, as the authors of these programs wrote, there has never been anything like this in the world of psychology. Nobody has ever tried to militarize and influence such a huge mass of people,” Voloshyna stressed.
According to the expert, although Crimeans were in the information field of Moscow, they were less subject to these psychological methods, which is why Russia is now vigorously “militarizing” its population.
After the annexation of the Crimea, Russian leadership started an active militarization of the peninsula. In the beginning of the August, a representative of the Main Intelligence Department of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Vadym Skibitsky stated that the Crimea may be an outpost from which Russia can deliver a nuclear strike on European countries. According to Skibitsky, the Russian Black Sea Fleet annually practices nuclear weapons drills. The fleet has been re-equipped with submarines, frigates, aircraft and other combat equipment capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
For nearly two and a half years, Ukrainian intelligence repeatedly documented occasions of Russia bringing new types of weapons to the region, including submarines with the newest cruise missiles and a coastal missile system. Furthermore, air force and naval formations in the Crimea are being reinforced.