The school frontlines

Russian teachers are prosecuted for expressing dissent

“For discrediting the Russian armed forces” — state police files ordering Nikita Tushkanov, a history teacher from the Komi Republic in the Russian north, to appear in court. Nikita is one of many teachers who experienced persecution against the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Schools in Russia have turned into frontlines: Since the start of the “special military operation”, the teachers have been called to arms and generously equipped with propaganda content.

Before March 2, almost all schools in the country held “lessons for peace”, for which teachers were given strictly-defined instructional materials. The materials, authorized by high-ranking officials, emphasized the “unity of the peoples of Russia and Ukraine”, equated the recognition of the Donetsk and the Luhansk People’s Republics to the Baptism of Russia; characterized the modern history of Ukraine as “Antirussian”, and called the Ukrainian revolution of 2014 a coup. Many teachers were also required to show photo- and video- evidence attesting that those lessons took place. A nationwide online class developed by the Institute of Education of the Russian Authors’ Society held on March 3 was allegedly watched by more than 5 million people. The content of the class was similar. And a few days ago a new series of classes was announced — this time, it will cover the benefits of economic sanctions for the Russian economy.

Politics — which, according to a federal law, is banned from schools — has firmly lodged itself into classrooms. Occasional complaints from parents taking down letters Z off of school buses are barely heard. Instead, teachers are taught to counter parents’ arguments and answer children’s all-too-poignant questions at the government-sanctioned online classes presented by the Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Maria Zakharova and the Russia Today’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan.

But not all teachers have agreed to serve as propaganda mouthpieces.

Geography teacher from Moscow Kamran Manafli held a tea party for his students instead of giving them a lecture on political ideology and wrote on his Instagram page that he refuses to be “the mirror of the propaganda” — and was promptly fired citing “amoral actions”.

Manafli later left Russia fearing prosecution.

To warrant the arrest of Gennady Tychina, shop class instructor from St. Petersburg, social media posts were not necessary — mentioning his pride in his Ukrainian heritage to the school guard was enough. Gun-carrying policemen arrested the teacher during class, in front of fifth graders. Gennady says that the school administration had previously suggested that he should resign — after he remarked that he does not support the “special operation”.

The above-mentioned Nikita Tushkanov lost his job after participating in a protest for the freedom of speech on his students’ behalf. Even after multiple court hearings he did not succeed in amending the pretext that his school used to fire him for — “amoral action” once again. Having that label in one’s work history makes returning to the public education system nearly impossible. Right now Nikita works as a private tutor and partners with online schools.

“Of course I have applied for jobs at schools in Vologda, Kirov, Arkhangelsk districts as well as in Komi,” said Tushkanov. “But all of them rejected me. Though one school even offered me corporate housing, but then the principal got a call from the prosecutor's office: she will have problems if she were to hire me. Another school offered to hire me on probation and showed me a nice house in the village where I could live in. I went to get my things and got a text message: sorry, we can’t take you.”

Right now Nikita is subpoenaed on two counts. He is accused of discrediting the military forces and of hooliganism. What was it that the police counted as hooliganism, Nikita does not know. Tushkanov does not hide his pacifist views and has already encountered bullying because of them: photos of Nikita on hikes — he participates in historical reenactments as a hobby and goes on excavation trips to the Great Patriotic War battlefields — were posted on a community message board on the social media network “VKontakte” and were accompanied by comments about his alleged sympathies to Nazism. After that accident Nikita deleted his account.

Irina Tolmacheva — an activist of the “Teachers’ Alliance” from Novosibirsk, an educator and a psychologist by training — got a criminal record for making a comment. She is charged under the new article — “disseminating fakes about the actions of the Russian military forces”. The criminal case cites a comment that she left on Instagram on March 3, before the new law — Part 1 of the Criminal Article number 207.3 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code — took effect. According to lawyer Pavel Chikov, 21 cases citing the article are currently active in Russia.

According to Irina, she questioned the official statistics about the Russian military losses and referred to a source citing different numbers. Three weeks later, in the early morning on March 25, a SWAT team crashed into her apartment. Tolmacheva says that the newcomers were rude, broke her front door and scared her. They took her phone and personal computer. During the questioning, Tolmacheva agreed to plead guilty — she is represented by a public defender and does not have money to pay for legal representation.

“I don’t know why they opened a criminal case — my comment didn’t state anything definitively, I cited my source of information and didn’t have earlier administrative records for ‘discrediting the Russian military’,” said Irina. “My case is led by the Investigative Committee of Russia. Perhaps they were ordered to open criminal cases under this article in every region.”

According to Tolmacheva, active pressure on teachers is connected to systemic, multiyear cultivation of obedience — tiny base salaries and dependency on additional compensations approved by the leadership put people in a subservient position when they are ready to do almost anything they have been asked. Those who refuse are highly visible. Still, Tolmacheva thinks that resisting the propaganda is possible.

“If I were still working at a school I would have talked to kids about the Great Patriotic War, for example. In schools, it often doesn’t matter what you are really doing — what’s important is to report the right thing.”

Irina Gen, English language instructor from Penza, is also charged under the criminal article on “fakes”. She was reported by her students. Irina works at the specialized school of the Olympic Reserve, and the students have handed the police an audio recording of their conversation with the teacher. It is a discussion about banning Russian athletes from international competitions. Gen responds to a student’s question by saying that it is related to Russia’s uncivilized actions, adding that they live in a totalitarian country and that “we will probably be sentenced for 15 years” for having that conversation. Irina’s estimate was just a little bit off: the new criminal article carries a maximum jail sentence of 10 years.

Commenting on Irina Gen’s case, Nikita Tushkanov remembers witnessing the freedom leaving the education system.

“Of course schools were more open before. I was still a university student when the Maidan Uprising happened, and we freely discussed those events with instructors. I grew up in a village with no internet access and two TV channels, so when we were presented with links to ‘Dozhd’, ‘Meduza’ (both media outlets have been designated as “foreign agents” in Russia —T.B.), ‘Novaya Gazeta’ —– my mind was blown. Instructors openly criticized the authorities and we’ve never considered reporting on them or complaining. It was quite the opposite — we even went to protest rallies together, and now that feels inconceivable. But, you know, anything could change. I recently told one of my students about a Roman emperor Trajan, who had made crime reporting on individuals illegal and exiled all informants. When that behavior was encouraged — like during the emperor Nero’s ruling — more people turned into informants. When that was punished — people stopped. All societies have something in common. Every person wants to be praised. When violence is encouraged, violence grows. When mercy is encouraged on the government level, people will become merciful.”

Text was translated by Anastasia Gorelova