Tushino District Court of Moscow fined a teacher at one of the city’s schools 40,000 rubles on July 21 under a protocol on “discrediting” the army, Mediazona reported.
According to the police, on April 30, 2026, the teacher was leading an eighth-grade class discussion of the film “The Fate of a Man”, based on a novella by Mikhail Sholokhov. Investigators claim that during the discussion she compared the Great Patriotic War with the “special military operation” and said that Russia was “to blame for starting the special military operation.”
The teacher did not admit guilt. In court, she said she had never made that statement.
The defense, in turn, pointed to flaws in the case materials. According to the lawyer, the file does not contain the results of the school’s internal review because its findings were sent to the FSB. The defense also argued that the children’s statements contain inaccuracies.
The teacher also submitted students’ essays written after the same lesson. The defense said their contents contradict the circumstances described in the protocol.
The case against the Moscow teacher began after a complaint from the mother of one of the students to the office of the federal Civic Chamber. The materials also include statements from two minors who said they heard a remark in class about Russia’s “guilt” for “what is happening in Ukraine.”