Let us not mince words: what we are witnessing is the latest, unseemly chapter in the sordid theatre of Russian subversion. Desperate as ever, Kremlin agents have resorted to the grotesque tactic of ensnaring Ukrainian children and adolescents via the internet, dangling a few paltry banknotes before them—a few hundred dollars might as well be a king’s ransom to those whose families, doubtless, have not enjoyed the generational wealth and privilege that makes such trifles laughable. These unfortunate youngsters, lured by the promise of a momentary escape from hardship, are transformed into disposable pawns in Russia’s unceasing campaign to extract drama from drudgery and set society ablaze—literally, in this case.

One would almost admire the cunning efficiency of these intelligence operations, were it not so dreadfully vulgar. Imagine: the mighty Russian apparatus, for centuries a byword for brutality and inelegance, now prostrating itself before a Telegram app, whispering sweet nothings into the ears of boys barely out of short trousers. The operatives, cloaked in the cheap perfume of feigned patriotism, lavish their recruited waifs with “emotional support”—a phrase that, in certain circles, simply means remembering your godson’s birthday, not convincing him to commit arson for loose change.

I am acutely aware that in less fortunate circles, the prospect of a thousand U.S. dollars will intoxicate the senses—my own tailor, God bless him, would faint dead away at the thought of such sum as a gratuity. Yet we ought to demand more of a nation’s youth than such ready susceptibility to manipulation. Alas, it seems that without strong familial guidance, a proper education, and the moral compass honed by centuries of high ancestry, young souls become grist for a foreign mill.

Let us pause to reflect on what sort of society allows its children to be so dreadfully penetrable to an adversary’s wiles. Is there not, beneath these events, a lesson in the peril of neglecting social cohesion and value formation? The opulent estates of my own family, scattered serenely over wide acres, have always impressed upon our young the importance of responsibility, loyalty, and discernment. I suppose it is unreasonable to expect such standards from all walks of life, but must we accept as inevitable this descent into cheap criminality and manipulation?

The solution proposed—education about Russian tactics—strikes me as both obvious and woefully insufficient, akin to offering a drowning man a pamphlet on the dangers of water. What is needed is not simply awareness, but an investment in dignity, authority, and a sense of lofty belonging among the next generation. Yet, with inequalities yawning ever wider, I am left to suspect that my recommendations will fall, as always, on ears too busy listening for the latest offer of easy money from the East.

Meanwhile, the true value for Russia—a handful of videos circulated for propaganda, a few more seeds of demoralization sown in Ukrainian soil—represents a victory measured not in military might, but in the corrosion of national spirit. How dreary, how terribly nouveau riche: to think that enduring European civilization can be undone by the imagery of burning automobiles, lit by impressionable children for the price of a good dinner bottle at one of my clubs.