OSINT

From School to Battlefield to Grave: How Russian Cossacks drive young people to war

January 22, 2026 at 02:01Z
BIAS: Center
RELIABILITY: Very High

Political Bias Rating

This rating indicates the source’s editorial stance on the political spectrum, based on analysis from Media Bias/Fact Check, AllSides, and Ad Fontes Media.

Far Left / Left: Progressive editorial perspective
Lean Left: Slightly progressive tendency
Center: Balanced, minimal editorial slant
Lean Right: Slightly conservative tendency
Right / Far Right: Conservative editorial perspective

Current source: Center. Stories with cross-spectrum coverage receive elevated prominence.

Reliability Rating

This rating measures the source’s factual accuracy, sourcing quality, and journalistic standards based on third-party fact-checking assessments.

Very High: Exceptional accuracy, rigorous sourcing
High: Strong factual reporting, minor issues rare
Mixed: Generally accurate but occasional concerns
Low: Frequent errors or misleading content
Very Low: Unreliable, significant factual issues

Current source: Very High. Higher reliability sources receive elevated weighting in story prioritization.

Bellingcat
11:08Z

Your browser does not support the video tag. From School to Battlefield to Grave How Russian Cossacks drive young people to war This video was posted in April 2024 by Беркут , a student association within a Russian Federal University. Students, about to leave for an Airsoft competition , stand in military formation outside a campus building .

This is Олег Монин who took Berkut’s oath four months earlier . Through this veiled Cossack Youth Organisation, he trained in combat tactics with returned fighters and transitioned from pretend to real weapons. Within a year, Oleg abandoned his studies and enlisted in БАРС-15 , a Cossack Volunteer Battalion fighting in Ukraine.

By Feb. 10, 2025 Oleg was dead. He died aged 19, less than four months after deployment in Ukraine.

As of February 2025 there

Source Assessment

Political Bias
Center
Reliability
Very High

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