A Russian children’s dance group won a competition after performing a routine set to Putin’s speech announcing the war against Ukraine

At the end of March, a theater in Sochi hosted the Crystal Magnolia festival for young performers. The grand prize went to Evelia, a children’s dance studio from Shebekino — a border town in Russia’s Belgorod region that has been heavily affected by the war against Ukraine.

In one of their competition pieces, the children performed in front of a projection of Vladimir Putin’s February 24, 2022 address announcing the start of the “special military operation” — the Kremlin’s euphemism for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Combat footage was also projected on the screen during the dance, which was set to Nastya Polevaya’s song “There Will Be No More Grief or Tears.”

The studio said its students traveled to Sochi despite the threat of drone attacks. “We weren’t afraid. We performed. And we WON!” the group wrote on social media. “The judges’ feedback left no doubt: we pulled off something HUGE. Our children are HIGHLY MOTIVATED and POLISHED, and the group proudly represents the CULTURE OF THE BELGOROD REGION across the COUNTRY!”

In the comments on Meduza’s Instagram post about the performance, readers had very different takes on it. Some struggled to make sense of what they were seeing. “I can’t figure out — is this praise or criticism?” one wrote.

Others saw the performance as evidence of broader support for the war. “When people tell me only Putin is to blame, I want to show them videos like this,” one said. “The public supports it too — sometimes even more fiercely than Putin himself.”

But some focused on the children’s own experience of war. “These children live in Shebekino, which is shelled every day, and the video includes footage of their city,” one commenter wrote. “They haven’t attended school in person for almost four years because of constant shelling… They will grow up understanding very well what war is and what it costs.”

Some argued the performance was, in fact, anti-war. “You have to read between the lines,” one commenter said. “The song and the choreography are about pain, not victory. This is very brave.”

Others focused on the ethical implications of involving children at all. “IN ANY CASE, the performers were put in an impossible position!!!!!” one user wrote. “If the dance is PRO-war, they’ll get a wave of hate!!! If it’s ANTI-war, I can’t even imagine the consequences for them and their families. […] But this is something ADULTS should be responsible for!!! And here, adult ideas are being hidden behind children!!”