Leaders of the criminal policy of the occupation regime in education in occupied Crimea: "Deputy Ministers of Education"
Several months ago, we devoted a lengthy article to describing the activities of Valentyna Lavryk, who has been the "Minister of Education, Science and Youth of the Republic of Crimea" since late 2019, and her predecessor Natalia Goncharova, who held this "position" since April 2014, having previously been the Minister of Education of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea since November 2012. However, these individuals were not alone in their activities, having "deputies" - and the activities of the latter, which to varying degrees manifested themselves in certain actions, are also worth discussing separately.
Aider Ablyatipov
After the Russian occupation of Crimea, Aider Ablyatipov became one of the
most "prominent" representatives of the collaborators' cohort - and
not only in the field of education, which was transferred to the propaganda
rails. Coming from a family of deported Crimean Tatars, Ablyatipov received his
teacher's qualification at the Republican Pedagogical Institute of Russian
Language and Literature in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1980, where he probably
absorbed pro-Russian narratives for the rest of his life. After Ukraine
regained its independence, he settled in Crimea, and in 2003 received a
master's degree in public administration from the Odesa Regional Institute of
Public Administration of the National Academy of Public Administration under
the President of Ukraine.
Since the 2000s, Ablyatipov has served as Deputy Minister of Education and
Science of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. After the Russian occupation of
Crimea in 2014, he not only took a similar position in the occupation
"authorities" but also in early June, in the first ranks of
collaborators during the "first stage of the first conference of the
Crimean regional branch" of the all-Russian political party "United
Russia" in occupied Simferopol, received a party
ticket from the then Secretary of the General Council of the party, Sergei
Niverov.
A month later, during a meeting at the
"ministry" with the heads of 16 Crimean Tatar language schools,
Ablyatipov informed them that the textbooks in the institutions they headed had
to comply with the constitution and the requirements of the occupying state's
legislation, as well as undergo "scientific, pedagogical, public and
regional expertise."
In mid-July 2014, during a "meeting of the Standing Committee of the
State Council of the Republic of Crimea on Education, Science, Youth and
Sports", Ayder Ablyatipov stated that before the Russian occupation,
Crimea "did not have a clear and precise policy in the field of national
languages", which is why Russian and Crimean Tatar were allegedly
"gradually being squeezed out of all spheres of life". According to Ablyatipov, only with the adoption
of the "Constitution of the Republic of Crimea" and the indication in
it of the "state" status of Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar,
which according to the Constitution of the AR of Crimea had the status of
official languages of the region, did the need for a local "law on
languages" as an "official obligation" of the occupying state to
preserve them arise. At the same time, Russian was supposed to have the status
of the "leading language in public life" of the occupied Crimea, and
after the adoption of the relevant "law" it was expected that
"neither an official nor a teacher would consider attention to Russian and
Crimean Tatar as a manifestation of some narrow nationalism and separatism,
which contradicts the objective and progressive process of further
consolidation of the peoples of Crimea"; not a word was said about the
Ukrainian language.
On August 21, 2014, Ayder Ablyatipov took part in a meeting
chaired by the then "Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of
the Republic of Crimea" Ruslan Balbek on the preparation of the
"All-Russian Patriotic International Youth Forum 'Patriot'" within the
framework of the federal target program "Strengthening the unity of the
Russian nation and ethno-cultural development of the peoples of Russia"
for 2014-2020. The forum, which was scheduled for September 25 - October 4 at
the Artek International Children's Center, was positioned as a
"multifunctional educational program and practical platform that will
bring together 600 of the best representatives of the Republic of Crimea, the
Central Federal District and other regions of the Russian Federation" in
one place in order to create conditions for engaging young people from the
Russian Federation and the occupied territories in educational and practical
activities that would help solve the problems of forming the civic identity of
young people, as well as their spiritual and
In early October 2014, Aider Ablyatipov brought about 40 teachers from the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea to Arsk
(Republic of Tatarstan, Russia) to study the experience of teaching state
languages at the regional level.
"The Republic of Crimea has three state languages - Crimean Tatar, Russian and Ukrainian. The system of teaching the state languages in schools and kindergartens needs to be streamlined. In the Republic of Tatarstan, the mechanism for teaching two state languages, Tatar and Russian, has been systematized. We came to study this experience. We would like to preserve and develop the Crimean Tatar language. We really need Tatarstan's help," - Ablyatipov told reporters at the time.
Ablyatipov left Tatarstan for Moscow to attend a meeting "On textbooks
and manuals in the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian languages for general education
organizations of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol" chaired
by First Deputy Minister of Education and Science Natalia Tretiak. The official
of the occupying state began her speech by saying that on March 31, 2014, her
department approved the federal list of textbooks recommended for use by
educational organizations: this list "for obvious reasons" did not
include textbooks in Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian, but the ministry allegedly
paid close attention to the teaching of these languages as native languages, as
well as the preparation and publication of textbooks on the relevant subjects.
In response, Ablyatipov thanked Tretiak for "comprehensive assistance and
support to the Republic of Crimea in its integration into the legal and
educational system of the Russian Federation" and provided a report on the
work of the Crimean "ministry" on the use of textbooks in Crimean
Tatar and Ukrainian published before the Russian occupation of Crimea, measures
to organize the translation of textbooks into these languages and the writing
of original educational publications.
As a result of the
meeting, it was decided, among other things, that the Russian Ministry of Education
would consider the issue of "legalization", taking into account the
"expertise" of textbooks in Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian languages
used during the "transition period" in schools in occupied Crimea,
and the local "ministry" would organize work on the creation of
original textbooks in these languages for primary and secondary schools in
accordance with federal state educational standards. A report on the work done
was expected in December 2014.
At the end of June 2015, Ayder Ablyatipov made a presentation on the language policy
in the education sector of the occupied Crimea at the all-Russian
seminar-meeting "Language Policy in Education", held within the
framework of the aforementioned Russian program "Strengthening the unity
of the Russian nation" on the initiative and with the financial support of
the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Federal Agency for
Nationalities.
In September, Ablyatipov reported that his "ministry" had ordered
local "authorities" to organize native language classes in
educational institutions for all interested students, regardless of their
number. In addition, Ablyatipov stated that there is already a school in the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea where only
two students study their native language (it was not specified which one), and
"all conditions have been created" for them. The "deputy
minister of education" also stated that in the territory
controlled by the Ukrainian government, in order to study a native language in
school, it was allegedly necessary to collect applications from the parents of
at least 12 students, while in the Russian Federation there are "no such
restrictions," and "this clear difference shows which country has
what attitude towards the study of native languages."
At the end of March 2016, Ayder Ablyatipov reported that the occupied AR of Crimea had received the entire set
of 44 titles of basic textbooks of the Russian educational program in the Crimean
Tatar language for grades 1-9, which had been translated over the year by a
"working group of specialists headed by the Ministry of Education"
and delivered to the occupied AR of Crimea by the
Russian publishing house Prosveshchenie. The total circulation amounted to
45,000 copies: it was called "the first in the history of the
republic" comprehensive preparation and supply of textbooks for students
studying in the Crimean Tatar language in 16 schools and classes in 36 other
institutions. No such "luxury" was provided for Ukrainian-speaking
students. At the same time, the Crimean "Ministry of Education" has
developed textbooks for the study of the Crimean Tatar language as a native and
non-native language and Crimean Tatar literature.
"This is not only an educational project, but also a social and political one. The state [meaning the Russian Federation] is demonstrating the protection of citizens' rights to learn their native language through concrete actions," - said Ayder Ablyatipov.
In mid-July of the same year, the collaborator said during a meeting with
the Crimean Tatar teaching community in occupied Simferopol that the
organization of the preparation and publication of original textbooks on the
Crimean Tatar language and literature for students in grades 1-11 "will be
organized for the first time in the Russian education system."
Among other things, Ayder Ablyatipov was actively involved in promoting
education in the Russian Federation among young people in the occupied AR of Crimea. Thus, at the end of summer
2018, it became known that another seven applicants from occupied Crimea entered the Tyumen Industrial
University within the framework of the occupation project "Crimean
Student", which has been recruiting from the occupied AR of Crimea since 2014 with the financial support of the SoyuzNefteGaz
group of enterprises and Siberian Service Company CJSC: in 2014-2017 34
applicants were recruited on "special conditions" under a
"contract" concluded in 2014 between the Crimean "Ministry of
Education" and the Tyumen Industrial University.
According to Ayder
Ablyatipov, these initiatives "are bound to play a major role in the development
of long-term and fruitful cooperation" and the training of highly
qualified specialists for the industrial enterprises of the occupying state. A
year earlier, a solemn ceremony was
held in occupied Simferopol to present student cards and record books to 14
Crimean applicants who had entered the university; Ablyatipov was one of the
"honored guests" of the event.
During the three years of Russian occupation of Crimea, during a meeting at
the occupation "Ministry of Education" with employees of the
"Republican Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education" and
school teachers in March 2017, the issue of organizing the preparation and
publication of original textbooks on the Ukrainian language and literature for
students in grades 1-11 to implement the "State Program for the
Development of Education in the Republic of Crimea for 2016-2018" was raised
- just when the Ukrainian-language education sector in the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea had already
been virtually cleared.
During the meeting, the "Deputy Minister of
Education" Ayder Ablyatipov, similarly to what he had said stated earlier about textbooks
in the Crimean Tatar language, that this work would be "organized for the
first time in the education system of the Republic of Crimea in accordance with
the federal state educational standards of the Russian Federation."
However, it is still unknown whether Ukrainian-speaking students in occupied
Crimea have received these textbooks. In February 2018, Ablyatipov took part in
discussions on the creation of original educational publications on the history of
Crimea, which, according to him, were also being prepared "for the first
time."
In early July 2018, Ayder Ablyatipov became involved in a scandal
surrounding a boarding school for gifted children in Tankove village
(Buyuk-Suyren), Bakhchisaray district, which was rebuilt before the Russian
occupation of Crimea and subsequently financed with the assistance of Turkish
sponsors: the school was allegedly going to be evicted to Simferopol and its
well-equipped buildings were to be transferred to a tourist complex. This
initiative was voiced by the "head" of the institution, Iryna
Karliuga, who was allegedly not satisfied with the fact that the school after
the occupation had to be financed by the "Republic of Crimea",
spending more than 100 million rubles (more than 40 million hryvnias) a year.
At that time, Karliuga claimed that no one was going
to liquidate the school, but she could not explain why the parents of the
students were massively opposed to her. Aider Ablyatipov stood up for the
"head" of the school, who, during a meeting with the parental team,
called the events around the institution "the general line of the Ministry
of Education": they say that gifted children are not worked with in
schools, but in universities, and sooner or later the institution will move to
Simferopol, because in Tankove it is only "an ordinary village school with
insufficiently professional teaching staff." At the same time, Ablyatipov
assured that no one was going to close the school - the "Minister of
Education" Natalia Goncharova ordered to investigate the possibility of
using its premises as a tourist complex. Some time later, it became known that
Iryna Karliuga had written a letter of resignation, and Ablyatipovstatements
were criticized 's by the Crimean "council of ministers".
In September 2018, Ayder Ablyatipov planned to participate in the 39th
session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, but was denied a visa to
Switzerland. The Department of Information and Press of the Russian Foreign
Ministry expressed regret that this country
"deprived the Russian representative of the right to convey to the
authoritative human rights structure the real picture of what is happening in
Crimea." Ablyatipov himself told the occupier-controlled Kryminform media
outlet that he planned to talk about changes in the Crimean education system
over the four years of Russian occupation, including the study of languages of
almost all ethnic communities on the peninsula. By doing so, the Crimean "Deputy Minister of
Education" wanted to rebut Ukrainian representatives who "claim that
there is discrimination against Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians on ethnic grounds
in Crimea" and present "figures showing the difference in the field
of education in Crimea between the Ukrainian and Russian periods." Eventually,
the representative of the occupation "authorities", speaking on
Sputnik in Crimea radio, concluded that "Europe does not want to hear the
truth about Crimea" and publicly regretted that he was not allowed to
speak on an international platform "about the most peaceful people of
Crimea - teachers, about the flower of the republic - children, about the
realization of their rights".
At the same time, Ablyatipov recalled the Crimean
"constitution" that calls Russian, Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian the
"state languages" and stated that "every
resident of Crimea has the right to the language he considers his native
language."
In 2018, the Simferopol publishing house "Dolya" of collaborator
Valeriy Basirov published the work of Ayder Ablyatipov "Crimea:
Education in Native Languages". In the work, edited by Basirov, the author
tries to convince readers that in the occupied Crimea "all fundamental
human rights to study, use and develop national languages are respected."
Ablyatipov took this book with him as "evidence" to the hearings
in the Ukraine v. Russia case, which took place on June 3-7, 2019, at the
International Court of Justice in The Hague. Almost a month later, the
collaborator spoke about their course in an "exclusive" interview
with the occupation's "parliamentary" print media outlet Krymskiye
Izvestiya.
Ablyatipov participated in the court hearings as part
of a 37-member Russian delegation, which included representatives of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Prosecutor General's
Office, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation,
Rosfinmonitoring, as well as representatives of well-known law firms from the
UK, Germany and France. The work of this delegation was led by
Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Lobach and Human
Rights Ombudsman, Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department
Grigory Lukyantsev, who "have excellent knowledge of Crimea."
Ablyatipov boasted that he was issued a visa to the Netherlands "with a
fight, not pasted into his passport, but on a separate sheet of paper":
similar visas were issued to members of the "Crimean delegation" who
attended the OSCE human rights meeting in Warsaw in 2018. According to
Ablyatipov, these events indicate that "the blockade of Crimea has finally
been broken." However, "in accordance with the current practice",
a French lawyer acted instead of the Crimean collaborator: Ablyatipov's role
was reduced to providing him with all the necessary materials. Nevertheless, he
expressed his belief that in Europe,
"there is a clear tendency to change attitudes towards Russia and fatigue
from the deception that Ukraine supplies by the railroad carload".
In early 2020, Ayder Ablyatipov reported that a 10th grade textbook on the
history of Crimea, published in 2018 by the Russian publishing house
Prosveshchenie, was returned to schools in occupied Crimea, in which Crimean
Tatars during World War II were actually presented as German collaborators.
According to Ablyatipov, who was the project
coordinator, the textbook was not used after the Crimean "government"
decided in May 2019 to remove a thematic chapter from it "to prevent
ethnic conflict". When the pages that "caused some tension" were
cut out, the textbook was returned to use; however, it was decided not to
republish the textbook as it "complies with the regulations."
In 2020, by the "Order of
the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea" of March 24, No. 333-r,
Ayder Ablyatipov was included in the "Board of the State Committee for
Interethnic Relations and Deported Citizens of the Republic of Crimea", by
the "Order of the Head of the Republic of Crimea" of August 6, No. 779-rg - in the "working
group on the preparation of the draft law of the Republic of Crimea on the
Social Code", "by the order of the Council of Ministers of the
Republic of Crimea" of August 18, №1283-r, he was once again
included in the "board of the Ministry of Education, Science and
Youth", "by the decree of the Head of the Republic of Crimea" of
September 29, №304-U - in the "draft
commission" (Ablyatipov had previously been a member of similar
commissions several times), "Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the
Republic of Crimea" of October 6, No. 633 - to the
"Republican Commission on Minors and Protection of their Rights"
(with the powers of "Deputy Chairman of the Commission").
Finally, on October 19, 2020, by the "order of the Chairman of the
Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea" Yuriy Hotsanyuk under No. 357-rp, Ayder Ablyatipov was
dismissed from the "post of Deputy Minister of Education, Science and
Youth of the Republic of Crimea" on his own initiative due to retirement
from the occupying state "for long service", with a simultaneous
incentive of ten monthly salaries. In December of the same year, Ablyatipov was
awarded the "State Prize of the Republic of Crimea" for 2020 in the
nomination "Education, works
for children and youth" for a series of works on education in the
"state" and native languages in the "Republic of Crimea".
On February 19, 2021, during a speech at a press conference at the
multimedia press center of the MIA Rossiya Segodnya in occupied Simferopol,
Ayder Ablyatipov, already in the status of a "state pensioner" and
"state award winner", compared the situation in Ukraine
to the "Nazi regime in Spain in the 1930s.": residents of the
territory controlled by the Ukrainian government are "beginning to be
fined for using the Russian language," and the next step is allegedly to
arrest "foreign speakers."
At the same time, convinced Ablyatipov the audience
that in the occupied Crimea there are no obstacles for those who want to study
any native language "in accordance with the standards of the Russian
Federation." He noted that the percentage of
those wishing to learn Ukrainian has decreased, but "there are objective
reasons for this": if parents do not choose to educate their children in
Ukrainian, then all questions are to them.
More than a month after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the
aforementioned Krymskiye Izvestia newspaper published a
"programmatic" article by Ayder Ablyatipov on March 31, 2022,
entitled "A very simple and at the same time complex question: "Who
are you with?", the author of which, quoting liberally from the poetic
lines of the Ukrainianophobe Oles Buzyna, who was shot dead in April 2015,
publicly expressed support for the Kremlin regime in its war of destruction
against Ukraine. In his publication, Ablyatipov accused unknown
"specialists from the United States and certain European countries"
of "reviving neo-Nazism not anywhere, but next to Russia" and
"for 30 years, they have been persistently instilling in the people of
Ukraine the idea that they are part of the Western world, and that Russians are
not brothers, but the worst enemies."
"The Russians are enemies for the people of Ukraine who have absorbed the bacilli of neo-Nazism. This is a dangerous bacterium that infects many citizens living in Ukraine today. If someone prevents them from reviving Nazism, they are ready to destroy them - first morally, then physically," - said the former Deputy Minister of Education.
With these and similar absurd passages, Ablyatipov
tried to justify the unprovoked full-scale aggression of the Kremlin regime
against Ukraine and its population, as well as to convince his target audience
that Putin's "special military operation for denazification and
demilitarization on the territory of Ukraine" (abbreviated as
"SMO") was allegedly "understood and supported by a significant
majority of Crimeans."
According to the collaborator, Ukrainian nationalists
were allegedly preparing for a war with Russia, which they were to start either
from the occupied Crimea or from the similarly occupied regions of Donbas, and
they had been preparing for this war for years. Citing fantastic statistics
from the military departments of the aggressor state on military equipment
allegedly destroyed in Ukraine during a month of full-scale war, Ablyatipov
convinces his readers:
"Think about it, all this huge amount of terrible weapons would be directed against us, the citizens of Russia, and first of all against Crimea and Donbas."
Counting himself among the "citizens of multinational Russia,"
the former Ukrainian official, a native of Uzbekistan, convinces himself and
others that it is "going through the most serious tests today," and
therefore it is necessary "not just emotionally, but effectively to
support the president [meaning Russian dictator Vladimir Putin] and the
interests of your homeland.
"I think every intelligent person has to ask themselves a very simple and at the same time difficult question: "Who are you with?". And make a decision. Are you "For a world without Nazism", "For the truth", "For the President", or have you caught the dangerous bacteria of neo-Nazism and believe that everything should have been left as it was before February 24, 2022. A special military operation could not be avoided, it could only be postponed in favor of the United States. This is a historic and justified, overdue and fair decision by President Vladimir Putin," - Ablyatipov said.
Quoting the statement of the "head of the state council of the
Republic of Crimea" Vladimir Konstantinov of March 16, 2022, that Putin's
"denazification should be similar to the fight against cancer, which aims
to destroy all cancer cells without exception, otherwise the patient may relapse,"
Ablyatipov said that "this is exactly the work that our [i.e., Russian]
military are doing, like surgeons, are performing on the territory of Ukraine,
showing heroism and courage", and called on the residents of the occupied Crimea to show them "support and
attention" in the form of letters, appropriate stickers on cars, care and
constant care for families with wounded or killed "in the line of
duty".
"I am confident that the special operation will be carried out in accordance with the set goals and objectives by 100%, in accordance with the decision of the President of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. And the Crimeans will be able to meet and communicate with their relatives and friends from Ukraine in Crimea, as well as in Poltava, Odesa, Kyiv and other cities of the friendly country. It will happen! But for this to happen, we need to remove those who have divided the peoples of Ukraine and Russia, who have lived side by side for centuries, into two camps," - the Crimean collaborator summarized.
Probably, this speech is a consequence of the fact that since the summer of
2022, Aider Ablyatipov has been publicly positioned as an "adviser to the
Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea" Vladimir
Konstantinov. Earlier, in May, on his 65th birthday, he was awarded the Crimean
"medal for
valiant labor" with the wording "For labor achievements and many years of
conscientious work."
Oksana Krasnikova
The current "Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of
Crimea" Oksana Krasnikova has been in the regional education
administration structure for more than three decades, before and after the
Russian occupation of Crimea. A native of eastern Crimea, she worked for the
Ministry of Education of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea for a decade as a
methodology inspector and chief specialist since 1994. In 2004-2011, she was
the chief specialist and head of the sector of higher education and
international relations of the ministry, and in 2011-2013 she served for
several months as deputy head of the department of higher education and science
(eventually heading this department), youth and family policy, and head of the
department of higher education and science. In early 2013, she was appointed deputy minister.
After the Russian occupation of Crimea, she received a similar
"position" in the illegitimate "Ministry of Education and
Science, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Crimea"; she has held it
until now. In 2014, Krasnikova was awarded an honorary diploma of the Ministry
of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and a year later she was
awarded the title of honorary worker of general education of the Russian
Federation.
In August 2014, Oksana Krasnikova said on the "Guest in the
Studio" program on the occupier-controlled Krym TV company that "the most comfortable
conditions have been created" for Crimean students who studied at
Ukrainian universities and want to continue their studies in the universities
of the Russian Federation and occupied Crimea, so that they could return to the
peninsula from the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.
In early September, Krasnikova and "Minister of
Education" Natalia Goncharova, during a reception of residents of the occupied AR of Crimea at the "regional public
reception" of the head of the United Russia party, Dmitry Medvedev, considered a dozen and a half
appeals on this issue. the end of March
2015, Krasnikova told Rossiya Segodnya
radio that residents of the occupied AR of Crimea do not need
to confirm or replace their diplomas of education obtained in Ukrainian
universities with Russian-type documents, as they are "automatically
recognized as valid in the Russian Federation," but may need a
"notarized" translation of their diplomas into Russian.
Also in 2015, Krasnikova told Rossiya Segodnya radio that almost all
universities of the occupying state would allocate quotas for admission of
applicants from the occupied AR of Crimea on a budgetary basis; unlike
in 2014, they would not have to apply for admission and participation in the
competition in the territory of the Russian Federation in the Crimean
"Ministry of Education". According to Krasnykova, despite the fact
that in 2014 not all the quotas of Russian universities were chosen by
residents of the occupied AR of Crimea, in 2015 there were no plans
to reduce the number of budget places for them.
Soon after, in June 2015, Krasnikova stated that in the occupied AR of Crimea, under the future "law
on patriotic and spiritual and moral education in the Republic of Crimea",
school and student youth would be trained for service in the army of the
occupying state on the basis of a specially created center.
In September 2017, on the occupier-controlled Sputnik in Crimea radio, Oksana Krasnikova
reported that the number of applicants from the Russian Federation wishing to
study at secondary vocational education institutions in the occupied AR of Crimea was 10% of the total number:
their problems with housing and food were resolved.
By the "Order of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of
Crimea" No. 1673-r of December 24, 2019,
Oksana Krasnikova was included in the "Board of the Ministry of Education,
Science and Youth of the Republic of Crimea", and by the
"resolution" of the same "body" of July 5, 2021, No. 390, she was included in
the "Council on Personnel Support of the Republic of Crimea" as a
"secretary".
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the schools of the
aggressor state introduced the ideological so-called "Conversations about
the Important" (Russian: "Разговоры о важном"), which begin
every working week in all schools and colleges of the Russian Federation and
the occupied territories of Ukraine from the new school year. On September 12,
2022, during a "press conference" at the Simferopol "RIA Novosti Crimea press center," Oksana
Krasnikova stated that in the occupied AR of Crimea, these "five-minute
talks" will be conducted by "invited experts and educational advisers
- well-known politicians, historians, public figures who help to discuss any
topic in a confidential atmosphere."
The "deputy minister of education" also announced the introduction of
"educational advisers" in all educational institutions in the occupied Crimea, who are supposed to help classroom
teachers "build a unified educational space."
During 2022-2023, Oksana Krasnykova was included in various
"groups" and "commissions". Thus, according to the
"order of the Head of the Republic of Crimea" Sergey Aksyonov of
October 12, 2022, No. 1333-rg, the "Deputy
Minister of Education" joined the "interdepartmental working group on
the issue of attracting the required number of specialists (employees) to the
enterprises of the military-industrial complex of the Republic of Crimea",
according to the "order" of March 29, 2023, No. 434-rg - to the established
"working group on patriotic education of children and youth in the
Republic of Crimea" (as a secretary), according to , by order of May 10 of
the same year, No. 608-rg - to the
"commission for consideration of applications for the awarding of the
honorary title of the Republic of Crimea "Settlement of military
victory". "By the Order of the Council of Ministers of the Republic
of Crimea" of May 23, 2023, No. 794-r, Oksana Krasnikova was
included in the organizing committee for the preparation and holding of the
propaganda "XVI International Festival "Great Russian Word".
In early August 2023, Oksana Krasnikova, during a "press
conference" for the occupier-controlled RIA Novosti Crimea media outlet,
said that in 2024, three new "clusters of secondary vocational
education" would be created at once within the framework of the Russian
project "Professionalism" for 270 million rubles from the budget of
the occupying state - at the Romanov College of Hospitality Industry in
Simferopol, "the Kerch Maritime College, which was to become the
"core of the educational cluster of mechanical engineering," and the
Simferopol Motor Transport College, which was to become the "core of the
cluster of transport and road construction."
According to Krasnikova, the Professionalism project
exists "to ensure that there are enough staff, that there is an
understanding of who the company is waiting for, and that students know where
they are going and what the working conditions are like." At the same time, she noted that the "State
Council of the Republic of Crimea" adopted a "law" on investment
tax deduction, "when the income tax rate is reduced by the amount
contributed by the employer to develop the material and technical base [of the
educational institution where the training and internships take place]."
Soon, by the "Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic
of Crimea" of August 23, 2023, No. 610, Krasnikova was included
in the "Regional Supervisory Board of the Republic of Crimea for the
Management of Educational and Production Centers (Clusters) and Educational
Clusters of Secondary Vocational Education" as "Secretary",
established in accordance with the Russian state program "Development of
Education", approved by the RF Government Resolution No. 1642 of December 26, 2017,
and the federal project "Professionalism" of the same program with
provisions approved by the RF Government Resolution No. 4 of January 14,
2022.
In October 2023, Oksana Krasnikova was included in the "working group on
the development of youth tourism in the Republic of Crimea", created to implement
the "unified program of civil-patriotic and socially useful youth tourism
"More than a trip" (Russian: "Больше чем путешествие"). On
May 31, 2024, during a speech at the RIA Novosti
Crimea press center, she announced plans to accommodate about 9,000 children
from the "new regions of Russia" (meaning the occupied territory of
southern Ukraine) in Crimea for "summer vacation".
Natalia Zhurba
Another representative of Goncharova's "team" in the Crimean "Ministry of Education" is her "deputy" Natalia Zhurba, a native of Simferopol who used to work as a school biology teacher. Her biographical information is not easy to find online.
Two months after dictator Vladimir Putin declared the occupied Autonomous
Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol "regions of the Russian
Federation," in May 2014, Zhurba promised all schoolchildren of
the occupied Crimea that starting in the new school
year they would switch to studying according to the plans and programs of the
occupying state and would never study the history of their country again -
instead, they would be taught the history of Russia.
In August of the same year, Zhurba boasted during a press conference in
Simferopol that the government of the occupying state had spent about 850
million rubles (about 350 million hryvnias at the current exchange rate) on
printing new textbooks for schoolchildren in the occupied Crimea by the Prosveshchenie publishing house, whose
representatives handed the books to Crimean "officials" -
collaborators in the center of occupied Simferopol "in a solemn atmosphere."
"Everything was so fast, so organized, and such a large-scale delivery [of textbooks] has never been done in Crimea before. We had no doubt that by September 1 we would be able to provide every schoolchild with a set of textbooks. We also did a lot of work with teachers so that they could study the textbooks and methods of teaching subjects in accordance with the federal state educational standards of the Russian Federation," - Zhurba publicly boasted.
At the same time, in August 2014, the "First Deputy Minister of
Education" took part in a propaganda campaign in Trudove village,
Simferopol district, where a solemn ceremony of laying the foundation stone for
the construction of the "first Russian kindergarten" in the occupied
Crimea was held: the 160-seat institution was expected to open in September
2015 and accept children from nine villages of Trudove village council.
According to Zhurba, the construction of this kindergarten was made possible by
a subsidy from the budget of the occupying state for the "modernization"
of regional preschool education systems in the occupied Crimea.
"Today is a great holiday for the whole Crimea. Almost from this day, repairs and reconstruction of 41 preschool educational institutions throughout the Republic of Crimea begin, thanks to the fact that the Russian government has provided a huge amount of money that Crimea has never seen before: 577 million rubles [currently about 238 million hryvnias] for preschool education alone," - the collaborator publicly boasted.
On November 17, 2014, the Crimean "Ministry of Education"
together with the Simferopol and Crimean Diocese of the UOC-MP held a "republican
scientific and practical conference" entitled "Prince Volodymyr.
Civilizational Choice for the Development of Rus" on the eve of the
millennium of the alleged death of the Holy and Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince
Volodymyr of Kyiv. The target audience of the event was the heads of "educational
authorities", methodologists of methodological rooms / centers of
preschool education, heads and methodologists of preschool educational
organizations, directors and deputy directors for educational work of
educational organizations and teachers of the subjects "Fundamentals of
Orthodox Culture of Crimea" and "Fundamentals of Religious Cultures
and Secular Ethics".
In her welcoming speech, Natalia Zhurba told the
participants of the "conference" that she had a common task with them
- "to help the younger generation grow up cleaner and kinder, to love
their people, their homeland and be loyal to them". At the same time, the
collaborator expressed her belief that such events would help "develop a
common line of interaction between civil society institutions" and that
the tasks set by the "head of the Republic of Crimea" Sergey Aksyonov
"will be fulfilled and communicated to young Crimeans."
In mid-June 2015, it became known that the "committee" of the
Crimean "state council" on education, science, youth policy and
sports rejected an amendment to the "draft law on education" by the
then "deputy speaker" Remzi Ilyasov, according to which it was
proposed to make Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages, which before the
Russian occupation had official status in the AR of Crimea and which the
occupiers declared "state languages of the republic" along with
Russian, compulsory for study in educational institutions of the occupied AR of Crimea. Referring to an unknown
survey allegedly conducted in Crimean schools, the "First Deputy Minister
of Education" Natalia Zhurba stated that 74% of the surveyed
parents of schoolchildren were in favor of making these subjects optional; at
the same time, 16% of the respondents allegedly expressed the belief that
Crimean Tatar and/or Ukrainian should be compulsory, and 8% that all
"state" languages should be made compulsory in the schools of the occupied AR of Crimea.
"By rearranging the curriculum, one or two hours a week can be allocated, but this will not provide the necessary time for full-fledged language learning," - Zhurba summarized.
Later, she reported that the current plan
provided by the Russian Ministry of Education for the occupied AR of Crimea has only 1-2 hours that can be allocated to studying Crimean
Tatar or Ukrainian, and added that the introduction of compulsory study of one
or two "state" languages in educational institutions of the occupied AR of Crimea other than Russian, is
possible only by allocating hours to study the latter - but this is
"unacceptable" because students allegedly lacked the hours provided
for Russian to successfully prepare for the Russian unified state exam.
At the end of June 2016, the results of the II
"regional stage" of the XI Russian competition "For the moral
feat of a teacher" were summarized in Simferopol. The meeting of the
"competition commission" held at the administration of the Crimean
diocese of the UOC-MP was headed by its chairman, the then Metropolitan of
Simferopol and Crimea of the UOC-MP Lazar (Rostyslav Shvets) and the
"First Deputy Minister of Education" Natalia Zhurba. The latter
thanked Lazar for many years of close cooperation with educational institutions
in Crimea.
"Spiritual, moral and patriotic education of Crimean citizens is one of the priority directions of the state policy of the Republic of Crimea in the field of education. This direction is being implemented in the republic in close cooperation of the state authorities with the Simferopol and Crimean Diocese [of the UOC-MP]," - the collaborator said.
At the end of July 2016, the founder of the public initiative
"Ukrainian Cultural Center in Crimea" Leonid Kuzmin published the response
of the "First Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of
Crimea" Natalia Zhurba to his request for statistics on students of
schools in occupied Crimea who received education in
Ukrainian. According to the Crimean
"official," in the 2015-2016 school year, there were 894 such
students, or 0.5% of the total number. At the same time, the response provided data that 9316 students
studied Ukrainian as a subject, and 13661 as an optional subject. According to
Kuzmin's assumptions, based on these data, there could be from 455 to 2732
optional classes and from 210 to 621 school classes with Ukrainian language
instruction in the occupied AR of Crimea.
However, the applicant expressed distrust of this data - especially given
the absence of the Ukrainian language in the occupation curricula for the occupied AR of Crimea. According to Kuzmin, in most
Crimean schools since 2015, the Ukrainian language has been absent as a
subject, even as an optional one, and where it was present, the issue of
attendance and the number of students was very acute. In the Ukrainian gymnasium
in Yalta, which at that time was the only one in Crimea with Ukrainian as the
language of instruction, more than half of the classes were switched to
Russian.
"I know of a case when in 2015, in one of the schools [in Crimea], parents of children applied for the first grade to study in Ukrainian. The school principal then called the parents one by one and explained that he could not open the class because there were only three applications, while according to the law [of the occupying power], there should be ten. Then there was a similar case in one of the schools in the Simferopol district, where the principal acted in the same way. But since it was a rural school and parents are in contact with each other, they united and at one point came to the principal all together: you say there are three of us, but here are ten people - open the class," - the activist said.
On October 14, 2019, the "First Deputy Minister of Education of the
Republic of Crimea" Natalia Zhurba greeted the
participants of the propaganda "Third Congress of Ukrainian Compatriots Living
Abroad" and the thematic "round table" entitled
"Development of Relations between Ukrainians of Crimea and Compatriots
Abroad" held in occupied Simferopol.
On December 24, 2019, after Valentyna Lavryk was appointed as the new
Crimean "Minister of Education and Science," Natalia Zhurba was
included in the "board of the ministry" as the "deputy
head" according to the "order of the Council of Ministers of the
Republic of Crimea" No. 1673-r.
Iryna Narkunas
Iryna Narkunas, who was appointed to the "post of Deputy Minister of
Education of the Republic of Crimea" by the "decree" No. 474-U of November 19, 2014, by
the "head of the republic" Sergey Aksyonov. Since then, she has been
dealing with issues of a purely "administrative" nature.At the end of April 2017, during a meeting with Svetlana Truseneva, who was
then acting Minister of Education of the Kaliningrad region of the Russian
Federation, Narkunas reported that children from the occupied Crimea "are now very active, constantly participating in various
all-Russian competitions and contests," and that it was "a great
chance for them to see the country [of the Russian Federation] and to make a
name for themselves."
According to the "resolution of the Council of Ministers of the
Republic of Crimea" of May 6, 2019, No. 253, Iryna Narkunas was
included in the established "regional competition commission for the
selection of best practices and initiatives for the socio-economic development
of the Republic of Crimea". Shortly after, on August 8, by the
"resolution" of the same "body" No. 435, she was included in
the "interdepartmental coordination council for the development of
public-private partnerships in the territory of the Republic of Crimea".
Svitlana
Lvova
Unlike the previous mentioned "officials," Svitlana Lvova, a
native of the Bakhchisaray district, became a representative of the team of its
new head, Valentina Lavryk, in the Crimean "Ministry of Education":
they received their "appointments" in the same period - in December
2019. Three decades earlier, Lvova received a degree in mathematics from
Simferopol State University, after which she worked as a kindergarten teacher
for almost a year, and since 1990 she has worked as a math teacher at a school
in the village of Krasny Mak (Buyuk-Karaloz), Bakhchisaray district, for almost
a decade and a half.
In 2005, Lvivova was elected chairwoman of the village
council; later, in 2009, she, like the aforementioned Ayder Ablyatipov,
received a master's degree in public administration from the Odesa Regional
Institute of Public Administration of the National Academy of Public
Administration under the President of Ukraine. In 2009, Lviv was awarded a
diploma from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Autonomous Republic
of Crimea, a year later she was thanked by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and in 2012 she was awarded the honorary
title of Honored Worker of Local Self-Government.
She remained the head of the Krasnyi Mak village council after the Russian
occupation of Crimea, until the fall of 2014. At the end of that year, she was
appointed "head of the education department of the Bakhchisaray district
administration"; in July 2016, she headed the "department of education,
youth and sports" of this "administration", and in February
2018, she headed the "administration" itself. In the same year, she
was awarded a "diploma of the Presidium of the State Council of the
Republic of Crimea".
Svitlana Lvivova's media activity began after Russia's full-scale invasion
of Ukraine in 2022. Among other things, in September in the city of Saki, she
took part in the unveiling of memorial plaques on the building of the city's
school No. 1 in honor of the school's graduates Yevhen Petelko and Denys
Varavin, who died in the war against Ukraine: together with other "honored
guests of the rally," Lvivova expressed "endless gratitude
to the heroes who defended the peaceful sky and human lives at the cost of
their own lives" and "the duty to honor their memory forever."
During 2022-2023. Svitlana Lvova was included in various occupation
"councils" and "commissions" in Crimea - the "sanitary
and anti-epidemic commission under the Council of Ministers of the Republic of
Crimea", the composition of
those responsible for digital transformation in certain sectors to ensure the transfer
of massive socially significant "state" and "municipal"
services into electronic format, the "board of the
Ministry of Education" , "Regional
Headquarters for Gasification of the Republic of Crimea", "Sectoral
Commission for the Regulation of Social and Labor Relations in the Field of
Education of the Republic of Crimea" (with "co-chairman
powers"), "Working Group for Cooperation with
Credit Institutions and Development Institutions in the Implementation of
Public-Private Partnership Projects, including Concessions, in the Republic of
Crimea".
In 2022-2023, in some schools of the occupying state, teachers were
prohibited from communicating with students' parents through the
"extremist" messengers Telegram and WhatsApp and forced to switch to
domestic platforms, such as Spherum, using the Vkontakte messenger for school
communication, and the federal state information system My School. The Russian
Ministry of Education disavowed this initiative, shifting it solely to school
administrations. Commenting on these events at the end of 2023 on the
controlled Sputnik in Crimea
radio, Svitlana Lvova said that schools in the occupied AR of Crimea allegedly do not have strict prohibitions on communication
with students' parents through foreign messengers, but there are
recommendations to use the My School system, in which all secondary education
institutions in the occupied region are registered.
In August 2024, Lviv announced that starting in the new
school year, history would be taught in the schools of the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea using newly
purchased Russian textbooks that meet the federal state educational standard.
At the same time, she said that a "flagship school" was to be built
on the southern coast of Crimea by order of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin,
where "advanced technologies and progressive methods" would be introduced
into the educational process.
"Recruits"
A native of Alushta, Halyna Perepelytsia graduated from Simferopol State
University in 1996 with a degree in mathematics and worked in the schools of
Luchistoye (Demerdzhi/Funa) and Izobylne (Korbek) villages and in School No. 1
in her hometown: in the latter institution she was deputy director for
educational work, after which she moved to a similar position in School No. 3.
In the summer of 2004, Perepelytsia returned to School No. 1, which eventually
became a physics and mathematics lyceum, as principal, a position she held
until the Russian occupation of Crimea.
At the end of 2014, Perepelytsia was appointed "deputy head of the
Alushta administration"; in February 2021, her "duties" were
supplemented by "the powers of the head of the Department of Education and
Youth," which she lost in September 2022.
Having not received any awards during the pre-occupation period, Halyna
Perepelytsia has been receiving them from the occupiers: in 2015 -
"gratitude of the head of the republic", in 2018 - "gratitude of
the Minister of Internal Policy, Information and Communications" and
"diploma of the Presidium of the State Council", in 2019 -
"diploma of the Ministry of Internal Policy, Information and
Communications", in 2021 - "Certificate of Honor of the Council of
Ministers", "Certificate of Appreciation of the Minister of
Education" and "Honorary Title of Honored Education Worker of the
Republic of Crimea", in 2023 - "Certificate of Appreciation of the
Chairman of the State Council" and a watch from the "Head of the
Republic", in 2024 - another "Certificate of Appreciation of the Head
of the Republic". What this honor is for remains to be seen.
While Halyna Perepelytsia never seemed to leave Crimea during her lifetime,
her new colleague had managed to make a mark even in the central government of
Ukraine before the Russian occupation of the peninsula.
A native of Yevpatoria, Ilya Donchenko received two degrees in Kharkiv: in
2006, he graduated as an international economist from Kharkiv State University
of Food Technology and Trade, and in 2011, he received a law degree from
Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs. Since November 2006, Mr.
Donchenko has worked at the Main Directorate of the Pension Fund of Ukraine as
a chief specialist of the Budget Execution, Accounting and Reporting
Department. In 2009-2013.
Donchenko was an assistant consultant to Volodymyr
Danylenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament from the now banned Communist
Party of Ukraine (CPU), and at the end of 2013 he found himself in his
"boss's" homeland, Sumy region, where he was the secretary of the
Shostka district committee of the CPU until mid-2014. Probably in the same
year, Donchenko went to the occupied Crimea, where in the first half of 2015 he
worked as a "legal adviser to the Razdolnensky Territorial Medical
Association" and in 2015-2019 he was the "General Director of Priboy
JSC".
In 2017, Donchenko decided to get a third higher education degree, this time at the Crimean Engineering and Pedagogical University, majoring in Pedagogical Education. Probably in the same year, Donchenko was imbued with nostalgia for his communist past and headed the youth work department at the "Crimean Republican Branch" of the Russian Communist Party, where he stayed for two years. After that, in September 2019, Donchenko became a "deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea," where in November he was made "deputy chairman of the Committee on Tourism, Resorts and Sports." At the same time, almost throughout his "Crimean odyssey," from early 2015 to September 2024, Donchenko managed to work part-time as a teacher of additional education at Razdolnenskaya School-Lyceum No. 1 in northwestern Crimea. Needless to say, he is a surprisingly versatile person.
After all, there are many "nuggets" in the occupation authorities
of Crimea. However, they are valued not only for the talents described in this
article. And it is quite possible that someday they will have to tell the
Ukrainian justice system what they were gifted with and why.
Vitaliy SOLONCHAK, columnist for the Voice
of Crimea
This publication was compiled with the support of the
International Renaissance Foundation. Its content is the
exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the
views of the International Renaissance Foundation.
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