WATCH: Crimea students train with firearms, engage in hand-to-hand fighting

In a recent video released by Russian state media, students in Crimea are seen training with rifles and practicing hand-to-hand fighting. The sessionappears to be a component of a military training programme in which students from various grade levels are enrolled.

Students are seen handling rifles in the footage, which was first made public by RIA Novosti Crimea. The students disassemble, clean, and reload the firearms, which resemble Kalashnikov rifles, as reported by Business Insider.

The video then switches to a hand-to-hand fighting drill. Nine students demonstrate fundamental martial arts stances throughout the course while holding weapons that resemble Kalashnikov rifles.

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Video source: KPRC 2 Click2Houston

This is one of the first institutions to offer these fundamental military training sessions, according to a translation from RIA Novosti Crimea.

"Now, more than 60 people are engaged in martial arts, drill training, including kindergarten students and school children," according to Vladimir Konstantinov, speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Crimea.

"Children show great interest in activities," Konstantinov added. The translation also says: "An electronic shooting range was equipped in the institution for conducting shooting classes."

According to senior reporter Will Vernon of the BBC News Moscow Bureau, the military education programme at the Crimean school is a prototype that will be introduced in secondary schools across the nation later this year.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago, there has been an increase in the military's participation in Russian schools, and this course is the most recent example of this.

(With inputs from agencies)

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