Ukraine conflict spurs some Russians to seek Kalashnikov training

FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a banner with the portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the sports and patriotic club "Yaropolk" in Krasnogorsk outside Moscow, Russia December 3, 2022. The banner reads: "Sport is not a game, but the guarantee of a nation's health!" REUTERS/Yulia Morozova

KRASNOGORSK, Russia (Reuters) - In a sports club just outside Moscow run by a former Russian special forces captain, 70 women and men turned out to train with automatic rifles on Saturday, many of them seeking military skills because of the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine.

The United States and its Western allies have condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a devastating post-imperial land grab, but inside Russia what the Kremlin calls "a special military operation" is seen differently by some Russians.