February 14, 2026

Kids with Knives, Guns, and Fire


Kids with Knives, Guns, and Fire
A typical Russian schoolroom.

Authorities are concerned about the rising incidence of violence in Russian schools.

On February 3, violent attacks occurred in two Russian schools: in Ufa, a student opened fire with an airsoft gun at a teacher and classmates, while in Kodinsk, a girl attacked a classmate with a knife.

On February 4, in Krasnoyarsk, a female student doused another student with gasoline and set him on fire.

Shortly before this, on January 22, in Nizhnekamsk, a 13-year-old teenager attacked a janitor.

While typically participants in these kind of incidents only sustain injuries, at the end of 2025, there were two fatal tragedies. In Odintsovo, Moscow region, a 15-year-old schoolboy stabbed a security guard and killed a ten-year-old boy. And in the Tuva Republic, in the village of Kyzhyk Mazhalyk, a 17-year-old college student entered a school and killed a peer, also with a knife.

According to the Russian education media outlet Mel, from 2024 to February 2026, there have been 18 attacks by students and graduates in schools. Most of the attacks, 10 of them, occurred in 2025. Yet, solely in terms of the number of incidents, 2026 has already caught up with the whole of 2024. To drive the point home: On February 11, a shooting at a vocational school in Anapa killed one and left two injured.

When discussing the causes of “an epidemic of violence in schools,” official sources look for specific situations, long-standing conflicts, and the spread of bullying practices. Authorities claim that the neuroticization of children is caused by the internet, video games, and “excessively liberal attitudes.”

“Russian society, and especially its adolescent and youth segment, is in urgent need of a spiritual and psychological paradigm that would satisfy the need for a higher purpose and a constructive ideology,” said Nina Ostanina, head of the State Duma Committee for Family Protection.

Others argue that authorities are to blame for first legalizing violence, then teaching children how to handle weapons, and then themselves seek to solve conflicts through force and war, and then, when youth begin to apply these skills, it becomes an excuse to intensify repressive measures. For instance, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee has recommended that teachers monitor teenage groups on social media, while the State Duma is discussing whether it might be time to ban social media entirely.

You Might Also Like

Full Immersion in the War
  • February 13, 2025

Full Immersion in the War

Russian schools now include VR exhibits that immerse kids in Russia's War on Ukraine.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

Life Stories
September 01, 2009

Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

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.

A Taste of Russia
November 01, 2012

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, 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