In a playground outside a shabby warren of cinder-block apartments in north Moscow, children play on swings and climbing bars as Stepan Zotov instructs a squad of teens in knife-throwing nearby.

Thirteen-year-old Andrei Polivoi is aiming his knife at a foam cushion about the size and shape of a human chest that's propped up on a metal stair landing. Four of his five throws miss and clatter noisily onto the stairs.

"Not bad for your first try — attaboy!" Zotov proclaims with an encouraging clap on the disheartened boy's shoulder.

It's been five years since Zotov founded Our Army, one of thousands of "military-patriotic youth organizations" answering President Vladimir Putin's call for preparing the next generation of Russian soldiers as the Kremlin flexes its reinvigorated military muscle abroad.

"Service to the fatherland, military honor and fortitude are the best prevention against any socially dangerous conduct," says the 30-year-old, a lawyer and activist with the nationalist Rodina party.

Inside the apartment complex, the five other members of the club gather unsupervised in a back room to practice breaking down and reassembling an AK-47.

"One minute, 32 seconds — ha! I beat you by one second!" a triumphant Margarita Maluchenkova, an 18-year-old with crimson-tinted hair, proclaims after timing the last of her male club mates with the stopwatch on her smartphone.
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"We have always had enemies abroad," Zotov says. "You should know your enemy, and, make no mistake, we do consider the Western world an enemy, especially America. That is the most dangerous threat to our future."

Zotov disparages the attempts of previous post-Soviet leaderships to integrate Russia in the community of democratic nations. He contends the West has been corrupted by the vices of liberalism: gay marriage, decline of the traditional family, crime and substance abuse.