“We must not say it’s for the war”: Hundreds of thousands of Russian schoolkids are building drones that kill Ukrainians

In July 2022, a few months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, a ceremony in occupied Sevastopol marked the launch of the “Berloga” program (literally “Bear’s Den”), a “cyber-physical gaming platform” for school students. The organizers pledged to return Russia “to the top tier of global tech leaders,” pinning their hopes primarily on schoolchildren, who were expected to meet this objective by using special games to pilot drones and develop software for their use. The time and location of the event were described as being “symbolic” — a hint at the likely future target of the drones piloted by the program’s participants.

Officially, Berloga has no connection to the war in Ukraine, even if the legend dreamed up for the “gaming platform” was less than subtle. For Berloga’s young participants, the journey from the classroom to the war begins on a fantastical planet inhabited by “intelligent bears,” who must defend themselves against “bees.” In one game, players use drones to protect a precious resource called “energy honey” from cyber-insects, repelling “increasing waves of enemies.” In another, they learn to pilot quadcopters and deliver cargo to precise coordinates. Future releases promise players the opportunity to modify the drone’s design, create flight paths, and share code with other players.

The organizers’ real objectives are not hard to guess. The Berloga project is part of an ecosystem created by Russia’s Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), which also encompasses the NTI network of science and technology clubs and the Archipelago intensive training course. The latter explicitly mentions testing military drones in its curriculum.

The idea is that once a promising student enters ASI’s pipeline, they never leave it. After starting off on the Berloga gaming platform, they move on to NTI competitions and clubs, eventually reaching the Archipelago course or events organized by the Sirius Center — programs that already serve as recruiting grounds for the armed forces and war-related state corporations. The interconnected nature of these projects is also evident from government funding patterns.

Vladimir Putin personally approved the launch of Berloga, and the project has enjoyed strong administrative support ever since. Its main draw — and the key to the platform's popularity — is the bonus of 10 extra points in the EGE, Russia's unified state exam for high school students. Students themselves admit that, while the Berloga tasks are difficult, the additional credits are a powerful incentive.

The platform’s developers, however, are counting on students staying engaged even after their exams. They aim to ensure that more than 600,000 players battling cyber-bees will eventually transition to the programming and assembly of real drones.

The bridge from this virtual world to reality is built by Aleksey Fedoseev. A 42-year-old teacher with two decades of experience, Fedoseev now heads Berloga and the NTI Club Movement, running projects that foster the development of future engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs.