Be all you can be

last updated 8 January 2015

Moscow

A pro-Kremlin youth group is preparing a reality show aimed at convincing young men to join the army. Our Country, a group that supports President Vladimir Putin, is sending 30 of its members to an army barracks to go through basic training surrounded by TV cameras. Our Country head Nikolai Dymov said some members of his group had already toured the military facility and were impressed. “They saw with their own eyes that there is nothing to fear,” Dymov said. “They are ready to enlist right away.” Russia has a disastrously high rate of desertion, largely because of severe hazing. Each year, at least 1,000 soldiers die in hazing rituals or by suicide.