A recent investigation by the British newspaper “Sunday Times” has revealed that a Russian school in West London is teaching its students how to assemble firearms and throw grenades, following a strict and strongly anti-Western curriculum. The Russian Embassy school in Notting Hill is attended by the children of known and alleged Russian spies, as well as Russian diplomats serving in the United Kingdom.
In history classes, students are taught that “Ukraine is a puppet of the West seeking to destabilize Russia,” while in physical education they practice throwing grenades using tennis balls. According to the Times, last school year there was a course called “Combat Characteristics of the Kalashnikov Assault Rifle,” in which students learned how to assemble and use the weapon.
On Monday, pupils returned to class, along with thousands of other schools across the UK, with images of them raising the Russian flag and singing the national anthem in the schoolyard. The current headteacher is the Russian Embassy Deputy Ambassador Alexander Gusarov, and his children are believed to be attending the school.
Ukrainian open-source intelligence agency Molfar has previously accused the 42-year-old of being an undercover spy for the Služba extra razvedkiMoscow’s foreign intelligence service, better known as the SVR. The pupils’ parents are thought to include Colonel Maxim Elovik, a former Russian embassy defence attaché who was expelled from the UK in May after being exposed as a top spy.
The school has around 100 pupils, 60 of whom are aged between seven and 18 and attend classes five days a week for three terms a year. The other 40 attend evening classes. Around three-quarters of these pupils have parents who work at the Russian embassy or trade mission, while the remainder are children of Russian residents in Britain or Belarusian embassy staff. Some pupils have British or dual citizenship, but they are required to have knowledge of Russian. According to The Times, parents who are not diplomats pay around €1,000 a year in fees. The school is located about a kilometre from the Russian embassy, in a Victorian house. At the entrance, pupils are greeted by a portrait of Vladimir Putin.
Teachers follow the Russian state curriculum, with history lessons focused on propaganda, portraying the war in Ukraine as part of Russia’s historical mission. In the last academic year, the curriculum included weekly lessons on military maneuvers, battle signals and combat first aid. Photos from the start-of-year sports day show children competing in bandaging and crossbow shooting. Pupils dressed up as members of the Red Army to mark Victory Day, which commemorates the 1945 victory over the Nazis. The school does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Department for Education or the UK schools inspectorate because of diplomatic exemptions as a branch of the Russian embassy. There are around 80 other similar schools around the world, although one school in Warsaw was closed by the Polish government last year, in what the Kremlin called an “invasion”.
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