The \u201cZemskyi Uchitel\u201d (Rural Teacher) program, started in 2020<\/a>, was first used to attract educators to small towns across Russia, then extended to the occupied territories. When their contracts end, teachers have the choice to stay or return home.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFour teachers who joined in the first year are still working here,\u201d said<\/a> Valentyna Akulenko, the Russian-appointed head of education for Crimea\u2019s Sovetsky district. \u201cThis year, we are requesting four more Russian language and literature teachers \u2014 and I believe we\u2019ll also submit a request for two math teachers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n More than 100 teachers have moved to Crimea under the program, according to Ukraine\u2019s Regional Center for Human Rights. Most came from Krasnodar and Altai Krai, as well as Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Saratov, Tyumen, Ivanovo regions, and Udmurtia, it said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Alongside teachers of Russian language, literature, and history, there were also instructors for classes in \u201cbasics of life safety and defense of the Motherland,\u201d according to Kateryna Rashevska, a legal expert at the NGO Regional Center for Human Rights.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese classes are focused on military conscription and preparing young men for service,\u201d she said. \u201cThese people are also involved in reprogramming Ukrainian children, attempting to raise them as Russian patriots and future members of the Russian armed forces.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The program for the newly occupied territories officially launched in 2024, but Russian teachers had started arriving two years earlier, Rashevska said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have documented cases of teachers \u2014 and people assigned to managerial roles, such as school principals and deputy heads \u2014 arriving as early as 2022,\u201d she said. \u201cThe first group came from Dagestan, arriving in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, and by 2024, there were already 37 teachers from Dagestan working there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tGet the Latest\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSign up to receive regular emails and stay informed about CEPA’s work.\t\t<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not just ideologically driven teachers<\/a> arriving from Russia to \u201cintegrate\u201d Ukrainian children into Russian society, some are the wives of soldiers fighting in the war, who move on the promise of cheap housing for combatants<\/a> in occupied areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n Similar programs, including \u201cZemskyi Cultural Worker\u201d<\/a> and \u201cZemskyi Coach\u201d<\/a>, were launched in January with the goal of bringing culture and sports instructors to small towns and villages. Like the \u201cZemskyi Teacher\u201d initiative, participants receive a two-million-ruble payment, and the goal is much more than simply filling job vacancies.\u00a0<\/p>\n More than 200 demobilized Russian soldiers are now working in occupied Ukrainian territories as physical education teachers or instructors of \u201cbasics of life safety and defense of the Motherland,\u201d with the explicit goal of promoting military service and recruiting Ukrainian children into the Russian army, according to the Regional Center for Human Rights.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Many arrive with their families, receive housing, and settle in \u2014 a process widely recognized as colonization in breach of Article 49 of the Geneva Convention and Article 8 of the Rome Statute.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRussia plans to move another 100 teachers into occupied areas in 2025 \u2014 a clear example of colonization, which the UN Security Council calls a major obstacle to peace,\u201d Rashevska said.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Russia relocates its citizens to Ukrainian schools, Moscow is doing all it can to force Ukrainian teachers to cooperate and teach the Russian curriculum. Those who refuse are at risk of punishment and deportation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn Berdiansk, a school principal was deported for refusing to open the school under Russian standards,\u201d said Mariia Sulialina, head of Almenda, a Ukrainian human rights organization. \u201cAccording to the occupiers, his stance and influence also discouraged other teachers from working in Russian-run schools.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Teachers are sent on \u201cretraining\u201d programs, she said, and \u201cif a teacher doesn\u2019t praise Putin enough during lessons, they can be fired.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Some teachers are trying to simply teach their subjects and avoid Moscow\u2019s propaganda, but this is becoming increasingly difficult due to strict school controls, Sulialina said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTeachers can be fined for failing to report \u2018extremist behavior\u2019 among students, which in practice refers to pro-Ukrainian views,\u201d she added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While Putin has extended<\/a> the \u201cZemskoy Uchitel\u201d program through 2030 and launched similar initiatives, human rights groups say it\u2019s crucial to use the existing tools of international law to hold Russia accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere are powerful mechanisms, but they\u2019re not being used,\u201d Rashevska said. \u201cThe International Criminal Court still doesn\u2019t prioritize colonization, even though these federally coordinated programs involving teachers, cultural workers, and coaches create a clear chain of command, potentially reaching top officials.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sanctions could also be used against those who orchestrate and promote the settlement efforts, she said. Ukrainians want the UN Independent Commission and ICC to prioritize these violations, expose them, and uphold international justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n Elina Beketova is a Non-resident Fellow with the Democratic Resilience program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). She is the author of Behind the Lines, a\u202fdatabase<\/a>\u202fand article series focused on Ukraine\u2019s temporarily occupied territories. Elina began her career as a journalist in Crimea and later worked as a journalist, editor, and TV anchor for news stations in Kharkiv and Kyiv.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n Europe\u2019s Edge<\/a>\u00a0is CEPA\u2019s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe\u2019s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis.\u00a0CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n Date: June 5, 2025 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\tEurope’s Edge\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tCEPA\u2019s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America.\t\t<\/p>\n![\"Photo:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2014-04-16T120000Z_950282109_GM1EA4G1FR901_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-CRIMEA-TRANSITION-1024x689.jpg\")
Photo: Pupils attend a lesson at a local school in Simferopol, April 10, 2014. Natalia Rudenko\u2019s ears were still ringing from being shouted at by a father demanding that the Ukrainian-language school she has run for 17 years in Crimea\u2019s capital now teach in Russian when local officials turned up at her office to dismiss her. Their message: Rudenko and her school dedicated to sending students to Ukrainian universities no longer have a place in a society that voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia last month after Moscow deployed troops across the Black Sea peninsula. Since President Vladimir Putin formally annexed Crimea on March 21, confusion has reigned. Courts are paralysed, the banking network is in disarray as Ukrainian and Western banks pull out, and business ties with the mainland are sundered. Picture taken April 10, 2014. Credit: REUTERS\/Maxim Shemetov<\/p>\n![\"Photo:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2012-12-20T120000Z_745212264_GM1E8CK1DVN01_RTRMADP_3_RUSSIA-PUTIN-1024x576.jpg\")
Photo: Cadets watch Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s annual news conference on TV at the cadet school outside the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Credit: REUTERS\/Vladimir Konstantinov<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Featured-Image-Chips-1400x933.jpg\"\/)
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