Russian invaders coerce enrollment in Russian schools by threatening parents with child abduction
Representatives of Russian occupation “administrations” have been holding propaganda activities to enforce the compulsory enrollment of children in schools following the Russian curriculum in the temporarily occupied town of Volnovakha in Donetsk Oblast and other settlements of the Volnovakha district, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff reported on Sept. 2.
The occupiers are also urging Ukrainians to participate in “elections” and vote for candidates from the United Russia party.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and representatives of district education departments visit families who refuse to send their children to these educational institutions to conduct “preventative talks” regarding compliance with Russian laws regarding compulsory secondary education.
Parents who resist are documented for “inadequate performance of parental duties,” says the General Staff. If they receive three such strikes, they will be stripped of their parental rights, and their children will be placed under the care of social services and placed in children's homes within the aggressor country.
Russians in temporarily occupied territories use schools to pressure Ukrainian citizens, said Southern Ukrainian Defense Forces spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk, adding that if parents do not send their children to specified educational institutions, the occupiers restrict their access to certain services, including medical, social, and humanitarian assistance.
Ukraine’s National Resistance Center also reported that Russians in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories refused to allow students without Russian passports to attend classes in higher grades.
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