Natalya Taranushenko. Photo: Alyona Itskova for Novaya Gazeta Europe

A Russian teacher from near Moscow has been found guilty of spreading “false information” about the Russian army and sentenced to seven years in prison in absentia, human rights NGO OVD-Info reported on Monday.

Natalya Taranushenko, who taught Russian language and literature, was additionally barred from teaching for three years.

In April 2022, Taranushenko gave a lesson to eighth-grade pupils in which she told the class about the massacre in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, near Kyiv, and compared the Russian authorities to the Nazi regime of 1930s Germany, despite being required by the government to encourage pupils to send postcards of support to children in the Russian-occupied Donbas, Novaya Europe reported in March.

By refusing to voice her support for Russia’s actions, Taranushenko drew the ire of two of her pupils who recorded the lesson on their mobile phones and showed it to their parents. After they reported Taranushenko to a Russian Federal Security Service hotline, local police officers gave her a “warning talk”.

Taranushenko discovered that a criminal case had been opened against her in June 2024 following repeated complaints to the police from the pupils’ father. She began formulating an escape plan with her daughter, and managed to leave Russia swiftly, guided by her former students, who advised her on the safest border crossings and places to stay. After moving through four countries, she finally arrived in France, where she applied for political asylum.

“Of course, this sentence is a point of pride: it makes me realise that my life wasn’t spent in vain and that I’ve always taught my kids correctly,” Taranushenko told OVD-Info. “I hope they will remember me throughout their life: such lessons are not easily forgotten.”