Three Russian Police Officers Fired For ‘Training’ With Students Acting As Protesters

During the so-called training session, a group of police officers equipped with riot gear had the underage students attack them and behave like combative protesters.

A video published by a local resident of the reenactment on December 22 showed police officers using force on the schoolchildren. Several students received bruises and minor injuries.

Upon review of the “exercises,” a district prosecutor’s office in the republic deemed them illegal and raised the issue of administering disciplinary action on the head of the Tukaeyevsky district and head of the district’s Interior Ministry department.

The involvement of the Internal Ministry officials in the incident “threatened the safety of life and health of students at the educational institution,” the district prosecutor’s office said. “Thus, it grossly violated their rights and legitimate interests. The district educational department did not ensure proper departmental control and timely suppression of unlawful actions by the school administration.”

Five other police officers were reprimanded by Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev for incompetent performance, including Tatarstan Republic Interior Minister Lieutenant-General Artem Khokhorin.

The head of the education department of the Tukayevsky district of Tatarstan also stepped down from her job.

After the video of the incident was published on social media, the Internal Ministry confirmed that the training exercise had taken place involving the underage students “with the approval of the school administration.”

However, news of the incident was later deleted from the Tatarstan Internal Ministry’s website.

The deleted news also stated that none of the students were harmed during the exercises and that they were instructed on safety measures.