Armenian border service officers detained at Yerevan airport Natalya Taranushenko, a teacher of Russian language and literature from the Moscow region town of Protvino, who left Russia due to prosecution in the case of military “fakes”. This was reported by the Agency with reference to two sources close to the teacher.
According to the publication’s interlocutors, Taranushenko was detained on the morning of July 13 before her flight from Yerevan and was handed over to the local police. The security forces held the teacher for 4.5 hours, after which they released her on an undertaking to appear before the law enforcement agencies of Armenia.
The obligation to appear is actually an analogue of the Russian undertaking not to leave, Armenian police officers explained to Taranushenko.
In early July, it became known that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had put the 65-year-old teacher of Russian language and literature on the wanted list. The case against her was opened on June 10 under the article on the dissemination of “fakes” about the army motivated by political hatred (clause “d” of part 2 of article 207.3 of the Criminal Code).
As Astra reported, the reason for the persecution was the class hour “Lesson of Kindness,” which the woman held at school No. 1 in the city of Protvino back in 2022. The “Agency” wrote that during the lesson Taranushenko told the children about the crimes of the Russian army in Bucha, showed them several videos from the Ukrainian media and called the Russian invasion of Ukraine a violation of international law. One of the students did not like the “lesson of kindness” — he complained to his father.
Later, as the Agency found out, two parents of schoolchildren wrote denunciations against the teacher: Artem Alexandrov, a participant in the war in Ukraine, and businessman Dmitry Naavgust, who sent help to the front. In the complaint, they said the woman's words «caused psychological trauma and distress to their children.»
Both men transferred their children to other schools, but Naaugust continued to write complaints against Taranushenko. The security forces refused to open a case against him several times. The teacher herself was forced to leave Russia — she has been abroad since June 13.
Representative of the Vanadzor branch of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Artur Sakunts told the Agency that there have previously been cases of extradition to their homeland of Russians who are being persecuted on political charges. did not have. For example, Nikita Kamensky, accused of vandalism due to anti-war graffiti, who was detained in Yerevan at the request of Russia, was able to leave Armenia.
According to one of the publication’s sources, the security forces communicated with Natalya Taranushenko politely. At the same time, they claimed that they were “forced to cooperate” with Russia.