October 10, 2022

Dangerous 10-year-olds


Dangerous 10-year-olds
Mental Calculation ~ At S.A. Rachinsky Public School. Bogdanov-Belsky (1895)

Moscow police have detained a 10-year-old girl after the director of the school where she studies told the Ministry of Internal Affairs that the fifth grader was using an avatar with yellow and blue colors [the colors of the Ukrainian flag] in a chat with classmates. The girl's mother informed the human rights group OVD-Info about the situation. OVD-Info has not disclosed the name of the mother and child.

According to the mother, at the end of September she was summoned to the "School in Nekrasovka" to discuss why her daughter was missing "Conversations on Important Things" - the new patriotic classes that began this school year. At the meeting, the woman was questioned about her daughter's avatar, and was told that another classmate's parent had complained that her child had posted a survey about war and peace in the chat.

On September 29, the school principal wrote to the Department of Internal Affairs for the Nekrasovka district. In her letter, quoted by OVD-Info, she commented on the girl's academic performance, and also asked MVD to "examine the living conditions of the family and establish cause-and-effect relationships for such a child's behavior, her civic attitude." The director also asked the police to "alter the educational position" of the mother.

The mother said that, at around 10 a.m. on October 5, the police detained the girl while she was at school. While the woman was on her way to get her daughter, a police officer and a juvenile inspector asked the fifth-grader if her mother worked, what she did, and how the family spent their free time. Then the police took the girl to the offices of Ministry of Internal Affairs, and her mother was brought there separately. “In front of the crying child, security forces rudely led the mother to the [school] exit,” OVD-Info wrote.

The mother and daughter were questioned by police, along with guardianship authorities, for three hours at the offices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In particular, they were interested in why the girl had chosen an avatar with this particular combination of colors. Employees of the Center for Combating Extremism also read the messaging and email correspondence on the woman's phone. As a result, the police drew up a protocol stating that they had brought the minor to the station and took down her explanations.

Protocol of investigation, a legal document
The investigation protocol.

After some time, the police visited the family's home and, without presenting a warrant or any required documents, began to examine the correspondence and search history on the mother's phone and laptop, and also "rummaged through the bed linens," the mother said. Recently, the juvenile inspector told the mother that they were going to put her family on a watch list.

Source: Meduza

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955