Administration of a school in Simferopol region, Crimea, summoned a schoolboy’s parents for the preventative conversation, the 15 minutes information website reports. The reason was that the boy drew a picture, using Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar national symbols.
“At a lesson, when pupils were asked “What is Motherland?”, they received the task to fill in the stencil, presumably by colors of the Russian flag. The schoolboy painted it with blue and yellow, put several tamgas (Crimean Tatar national symbols) on it and wrote: “Crimea is our motherland”, the outlet reports. After that, the schoolboy’s parents were summoned to school.
The medium never specified the name of the school; neither the school administration, nor Crimea’s Ministry of Education commented on the issue.
Since spring 2014, when Russia annexed the peninsula, there have been more cases when the use of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar national symbols led to similar judgments in Crimean schools.
Most recently, pictures with Ukrainian symbols emerged at bus stops in Krasnoperekopsky region in Crimea. The Mejlis of Crimean Tatars reported it was followed by joint raids of so-called Cossacks and agents of the FSB, Russia’s federal security service.
The pro-Russian leadership of Crimea denies the oppression and violations of rights of Crimean Tatars.