TENS of thousands of Russian orphans are to be forced into joining Vladimir Putin’s ‘youth army’ in an ‘immoral’ bid to swell numbers, say reports.

The move comes as a senior military figure claims today's children are “afraid of machine guns” and do not even know how to throw a grenade properly.

Saying this wasn't “normal”, Col-General Viktor Bondarev, who ran Russia’s strategic rocket forces, demanded military training for all kids.

Critics have already accused Putin’s fast-growing 'Yunarmia' of resembling the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany.

Others say it is evidence of the increased militarisation of Russia amid deteriorating relations with the West.

But supporters say the force, already numbering more than 353,000, keeps children out of trouble while fostering patriotism.

Recruits from eight to 18 are taught military drills, how to handle Kalashnikovs, wrestling, and parachute jumping.

Now Russia’s children’s ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova is backing a move that could see the recruitment of 50,000 orphans of both sexes join the force.

She has demanded her regional officials play an active part in recruiting direct from orphanages for Yunarmia, claimed Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

Critics say these children will not be able to say no because are under the state’s direct control.

In Soviet times, orphans were also recruited to the military and KGB.

Expert Alexander Gezalov angrily hit out at the plan to “dress them in uniform”.

ONE MILLION RECRUITS
He said: “Nobody is left to protect orphans if the children’s ombudsmen are pushing them into these military units.

“They should be dealing with completely different matters.”

Psychologist Nikolay Scherbakov complained: “This idea is non-professional and immoral.”

The aim is to have 500,000 recruits by May and one million a year later when Russia marks the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, say the reports.

A simultaneous drive is underway to recruit children directly in schools and among the offspring of factory workers in large companies.

This follows the blistering criticism by a senior senator of Education Minister Olga Vasiliyeva for failing to ensure military education in Russia’s classrooms.

Bondarev, who now chairs the senate’s committee on defence and security, thundered at Vasilyeva: “Children are afraid of machine guns.

"Children do not know what a grenade looks like or how to throw it. Is it really normal?”

He warned that children were not properly educated in military matters in schools compared with Soviet times.

He declared: “Why did you remove the basic military training course from schools?

“You know that a pacifist will never protect his Motherland with poems or brushes.”

This was even more so when Russia was surrounded by threats, he said.

“What are we afraid of and whose hands are we playing into?

“Please, be wise, (military training) must be brought back now. Thanks to pacifists, compulsory army service (conscription) has been cut to only one year.”

When it was formed one Russian news website complained that the Yunarmia was "plagiarising Hitler Youth" - but the report was swiftly removed.

"Something similar to German organisation Hitler Youth is coming from Russia," it stated.