Moscow institutions send letters about education to parents of children abroad — Interia

In Moscow, budgetary institutions of the Russian Federation, an aggressor state, have begun sending letters to parents of children living abroad, asking about their place of study. As Interia reports, the Russian outlet Verstka reported on the mailout. The letters began arriving in October.

Inquiry about school

The letters state that the Moscow Department of Education received information about a child registered in the Russian capital who does not attend any educational institution in the city. Parents are asked to confirm or deny as soon as possible that the child is studying at a school.

The authors of the letters refer to Part 4 of Article 44 of the federal law on education. It establishes the obligation of parents of minors to ensure that their children have access to general education. One of the letters published by Verstka says that, if there is no information about the child’s place of study, the information will be forwarded to the Commission for Minors’ Affairs and Protection of Their Rights.

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Parents’ reaction

According to Verstka, the letters are being sent by Moscow budgetary institutions that perform the functions of a guardianship authority. Parents must send their replies to those same institutions. The outlet also notes that the law provides for a fine of 500 to 2,000 rubles for failure to fulfill or improper fulfillment of the duty to educate a child.

One of Verstka’s interviewees said that her nine-year-old daughter has lived abroad since the age of five and attends a school in Dubai. After calling the number in the letter, the woman explained that the family no longer has registration either in Moscow or in Russia. She was not asked any further questions after that.

The parents of a 13-year-old boy also received a similar letter. His family moved abroad in 2015 and now lives in Iceland, while the boy himself has never studied at a Russian school. In chats of Russian emigrants, people are discussing such inquiries and note that they had not received similar correspondence before.