PUTIN'S TINY ARMY
Some parents would gasp at the thought of their children playing with a toy gun, but these Russian children are actually encouraged to take up real arms. Military sports club, ‘Berkut’, (meaning golden eagle), trains up tiny Vlads and Boris’, who dream of joining the elite units of the Russian army and fighting under the command of President Vladimir Putin. Pictured on their website brandishing a hand gun, is a young boy, dressed in military fatigues with his finger over the trigger. Children as young a five are sent on forced marches, given battlefield training, taught hand to hand combat, and how to use military equipment. 12 year olds are also taught to fire Kalashnikov assault rifles and other small arms. During the clubs regular camps some children are given the opportunity to parachute jump during their paratrooper training. The club based in Zhukovsky, Russia, claims to provide military training designed to develop the younger generation of the “motherland” - a term synonymous with the former Soviet Union and the communist rule of the last century.
Other great stories
AMAZING AURORA BOREALIS
A GLOWING range of greens and blues sweep across the sky in a spectacular display of light .
UNUSUAL ANIMAL FRIENDSHIP
SAT ON top of a Brazilian turtle’s head, this little ladybird looks content as he studies his environment from a new height .
PEEKABOO SQUIRRELS EMERGE FROM THEIR NEST
SQUEEZING their furry faces through a hole in a tree, a trio of curious baby squirrels leave their nest for the first time to explore their surroundings .
Korean Mass Games
These are the amazing close up pictures of North Korea's mass games - after photographers were previously banned from taking shots so close to the dazzling formation dances .
BOSTON BOMBING AFTERMATH - 17TH APRIL
At least three people have been killed and more than 100 injured, some seriously, in two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon .
HORSE BEFRIENDS ADOPTED CAT
Going for long rides through vast fields together, this twosome share an unbreakable bond .
BALD IS BEAUTIFUL: WOMEN WITH ALOPECIA TRANSFORMED INTO STUNNING SIRENS
A photographer has transformed women with alopecia into stunning sirens - showing that bald is beautiful .
WOMAN ‘DIED’ GIVING BIRTH TO HER SON DUE TO HER 19ST FRAME SO SHE LOST 8ST 13LBS AND NOW SHE’S A SIZE 8-10
At 19st and eight months pregnant, Ashley Whitfield, went into hospital to have her baby son, Isaac, delivered by emergency C-section .
HOLE LOT OF TROUBLE: BADGERS BORE UNDER TRAIN TRACK
Commuters were put in a HOLE lot of trouble after trains were cancelled by a hole created by BADGERS .
STAR-TI-LING: 40,000 STARLINGS MIMIC HITCHCOCK'S THE BIRDS
STAR-TI-LING: 40,000 STARLINGS MIMIC HITCHCOCK'S THE BIRDS- This could be the fearsome scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds as a flock of 40,000 starlings bask in the heat of a wonderful British sunset .
UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP
A brave cricket takes his chances as he sits on top of this green papua tree frog .
OUT-STANDING FIREFIGHTER BREAKS ENDURANCE WORLD RECORD
A US firefighter has battled osteoarthritis and four hip replacements to break the world paddleboarding record .