Russia’s Communist Party on Sunday marked Pioneer Day, a holiday dedicated to the Soviet Union’s Young Pioneers movement, with an induction ceremony for its modern-day youth organization on Red Square.
While the Young Pioneers was dissolved when the U.S.S.R. collapsed, Russian lawmakers in 2022 approved the creation of a new youth movement in the style of the Young Pioneers to mark the Soviet-era organization’s 100th anniversary.
The new movement, Dvizheniye pervykh (Movement of the First), was sanctioned by the European Union in February 2024 for “supporting … actions which undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, and stability and security in Ukraine.”
Here’s a look at Sunday’s event:
