Former Minister of Education of Crimea liquidated Ukrainian schools and will be prosecuted

The former Minister of Education of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea will be tried for high treason for collaborating with the occupiers after the annexation of the peninsula. She liquidated Ukrainian schools and implemented Russian education standards.

This was reported by the press service of the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

The prosecutor's office sent to court an indictment against Natalia Goncharova, the former head of the Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Sports of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Her actions are classified as high treason under Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which provides for a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

The investigation established that Goncharova had been working in Ukrainian state educational institutions since 2001, and in November 2012 she became the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

After the occupation of the peninsula in 2014, she went over to the enemy. By the decree of the so-called acting head of the Republic of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, she was appointed to a similar position in the occupation administration.

In 2019, the woman left this position, but according to media reports, she continues to work in the occupation educational system - she currently manages the Crimean Spring Lyceum in Simferopol district.

According to the prosecutor's office, while performing her duties, Goncharova was engaged in the integration of the Crimean education system into Russian standards, in particular, she liquidated Ukrainian educational institutions on the peninsula and created new institutions subordinated to the occupation authorities instead.

Another representative of the occupation authorities of Crimea was notified of suspicion of collaboration. This is a woman who is currently the head of the so-called Ministry of Culture on the peninsula and is engaged in the implementation of Russian military propaganda in the field of culture and art.

The investigation found that in 2025, under her leadership, a special propaganda program was developed for sports and entertainment events aimed at glorifying the military of the aggressor state.

Анна Бальчінос