Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk said that school teachers were detained in the settlements liberated from the Russian army. They came to the occupied territories to work in local schools according to Russian educational programs. According to Vereshchuk, quoted by Strana, they will be tried under Article 438 of the Criminal Code (violation of the laws and customs of war). This article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of eight to twelve years.
“They committed a crime against our state. We have repeatedly warned Russian citizens who agreed to come to the territory of Ukraine and carry out activities prohibited by law here. Of course, the court will determine the measure of punishment for them, but there are still a certain number of Russian citizens on the territory of our state who have arrived in the temporarily occupied territories and will definitely be punished if they do not leave our territory without delay,” Vereshchuk said.
She specified that Russian teachers would not be treated as prisoners for exchange.
“No one will consider them as prisoners of war, because they are not combatants, the Geneva Conventions do not provide for the exchange of non-prisoners of war,” Vereshchuk said.
In July, it became known that in Russian regions, especially those with low salaries, teachers were being recruited to teach Ukrainian children the “correct” history, as well as, according to the Minister of Education of Russia Sergey Kravtsov, the correct geography and social studies. Teachers were offered salaries of about 190,000 rubles.