Occupation Minister of Education of Kherson region to be tried in Ukraine

In July 2022, a Russian citizen arrived in the occupied Kherson region and took up the post of "Minister of Education and Science of the Kherson region."

This was reported by the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office.

The investigation found that the accused also gave interviews on the occupation media, during which he justified Russian aggression. As a speaker, he repeatedly took part in "educational" and "cultural" events, calling on Ukrainian schoolchildren to study under Russian programs, and called the occupied territory a "new region of the Russian Federation."

In addition, the accused integrated educational institutions of the occupied Kherson region into the Russian education system. Russian culture, ideology, etc. were promoted during the lessons. He announced trips of students to the occupied Crimea and to the regions of Russia, which, in his opinion, was supposed to foster children's attachment to the "Russian world".

Under the procedural supervision of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office, an indictment against a Russian citizen was sent to court on charges of collaboration and justifying the occupation of part of Ukraine through the media.

The prosecutor's office did not name the offender. However, from Russian resources, Intent found that it is Mikhail Rodikov. Before he became the pseudo-Minister of Education in Kherson region, Rodikov headed the occupation department of education in Sevastopol. At that time, Volodymyr Saldo , the Kremlin's protege in Kherson region, praised his achievements before the occupiers:

"From 2015 to 2018, he adapted the educational system of Sevastopol to Russian realities and coped with it brilliantly," the Russian henchman said.

Earlier, under the procedural supervision of the autonomy's prosecutor's office, a Ukrainian citizen who implements the aggressor state's education standards in the peninsula's schools was served a notice of suspicion of collaboration. She faces up to 3 years in prison. By her actions, the suspect assists the occupying state in destroying the national identity of Ukrainian schoolchildren in Crimea.

Олеся Ланцман