Can I Attend This Russian Military School For Girl Soldiers?

I don’t know about you, but growing up watching shows like Xena, La Femme Nikita, and Buffy made me yearn to be a badass. If only there were someplace I could learn how to do that. There is. In Russia. Photographer Sergey Kozmin was allowed into the Moscow Female Cadet Boarding School No. 9 to show the students at their everyday activities: dancing, exercise, and firearms class. Take a look. 

Here’s what Kozmin had to say about the school:

The Moscow Girls’ Cadet Boarding School is one of the new elite military academies in Russia. While most kids hate school for boring maths or history, the classes here include stripping down an AK-47 Kalashnikov rifle. And the girls can do it in the time it takes most kids to send an SMS. With a curriculum that includes drill, arms, first aid and federal law, one might expect it to turn into little Amazons. But femininity is also highly valued, so the evenings are reserved for such activities as sewing, ballet and compulsory choir practice. There are no mini-skirts and swear words, no smoking and drinking, and no hanging about unattended. Mobile phones are also banned except for a few minutes a day to talk with parents. A traditional Russian Winter Ball gives the girls a rare chance to meet the opposite sex, in this case from a nearby all-male boarding school boarding school called Moscow Cossacks Cadet Corps – another military-style academy founded during the Putin years.

Wow. The NY Times adds a bit to the story. “They are ‘the Little Spies of Putin’ — or at least that’s what a French publication called them in a piece that inspired the photographer Sergey Kozmin to document them for his series ‘Girl Soldiers.'”

“Many of the girls come from military families and dream of careers serving Russia, whether in the army, the police force or the Federal Security Service,” write the NY Times. “A museum inside the school celebrates famous Russian women, beginning with the era of the czars. The students want to be like them, Mr. Kozmin said, as well as other prominent Russian women like Alina Kabaeva, the Olympic medal-winning rhythmic gymnast and member of the Russian parliament. ‘They want to improve the role of women in Russia,’ said Kozmin.”

So, what do you think? This story, in theaters, Summer 2014?

(via NY Times, Sergey Kozmin)