Children in Russia have taken part in nationwide anti-terror drills involving balaclava-clad “terrorists” pointing guns at them.
Images shared on state media show primary school children taking part in hostage situations.
Other pictures showed barricading classroom doors, hiding in utility rooms or laying face down on the floor.
The drills were made mandatory by Moscow’s ministry of education and took place earlier this week, reports The Telegraph.
First Deputy Education Minister Alexander Bugaev said: “The practical readiness of teachers, heads of educational institutions and security personnel will be tested on August 18-19, during the nationwide drill.
“This year, nurseries will participate for the first time.”
One of the schools involved in the drill said: “Several scenarios were modelled during the exercise, including an armed attack involving the use of flammable liquids, as well as the taking hostage of children and a teacher from one of the nursery groups.”
In Serkovo, a village to the north east of Moscow, four teachers were injured during a drill when a stun grenade was thrown through the window of the school before landing on a table and detonating.
According to Russian Telegram channels with links to the security services, teachers at the Serkovo school suffered eye injuries and abrasions and three were taken to hospital.
The Moscow regional prosecutor’s office confirmed it would launch an investigation into the incident.
Independent media sources in Moscow, Ukraine and Belarus reported over than 100 kindergartens throughout Russia have posted about the exercises on their social media.
In addition, at one school in Kurgan, south-central Russia, two perpetrators simulated dousing a security guard and the main entrance to the school in flammable liquid before setting them ablaze.
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While assaults on schools across Russia by current or former students have surged in recent years, armed attacks remain relatively rare.
Half of all violent incidents in Russian schools since 2000 occurred in the past five years.
Last year, Russian schools launched classes dedicated to staying safe during aerial attacks.
In October last year, Russian nurseries held a “safety culture” lesson to mark Civil Defence Day, focusing on protection from missile and drone threats
It comes as a report published in June by Amnesty International warned Russian authorities are using propaganda-filled textbooks and lectures to indoctrinate children and justify the war of aggression against Ukraine.
The report, entitled “‘Only Official Sources’: Indoctrination in the Russian Educational System”, documents how children across Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine are being subjected to oppressive state ideology via a centrally controlled curriculum.
Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Marie Struthers said: “Russian schools are being converted from temples of knowledge into factories of compliance.
“It is the Russian state itself which defines what children must learn about Russia, its neighbours, and the rest of the world.
“While using schools for political propaganda is not unique to Russia, the intensity and scale of the Kremlin’s efforts to put indoctrination at the centre of the education system are systemic.”
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