Press Release, 25.08.2025

Photo by Irina Buzhor, Kommersant

Not taking a foreign child into a Russian school because they don’t know Russian is stupid. This is the view not only of the Yabloko party, but also of Tatarstan head Rustam Minnikhanov. The speech of the President of Tatarstan at a meeting of education and science workers in Innopolis goes against the federal law that came into force on 1 April 2025. According to new school admission rules, foreign children must be tested on knowledge of Russian. In mid-May it was reported that 81% of applicants were refused testing for various reasons.

“We need to work, work systematically. How can a child not be allowed into school? Where should they be? Is it their fault that they [don’t know] the language? They will learn it, any child will learn the language in three – four months. Nothing terrible. Complete nonsense. We need to be careful. This is a child, it’s not their fault,” Rustam Minnikhanov stated.

Yabloko Deputy Chairman Maxim Kruglov notes that the head of the “national region” understands well what a time bomb the new restrictions for migrant children are creating for the country:

“The head of Tatarstan expressed a simple position understandable to any adequate person: how can you not take a child into school? Where should they be then, on the street? What will happen to them on the street, will they go into crime? This doesn’t contribute to strengthening security, but on the contrary, it can contribute to growth in the number of extremist crimes. Unfortunately, federal authorities don’t even want to think about this drowning in their populism.

Rustam Minnikhanov quite rightly adds that the child is not to blame for not knowing the language, and that they will easily learn it in three – four months at school. It should be noted that the world practice implies teaching language to migrant children precisely in school, organising special courses there when necessary.

There is feeble hope that federal authorities will listen to voices ‘from the regions’ and cancel their populist and openly dangerous initiatives.”

Minnikhanov instructed the authorities of Tatarstan to organise courses in the region where foreign children can learn Russian. Meanwhile, all 15 State Duma deputies from Tatarstan (14 United Russia members and one communist) voted in the third reading for introducing restrictions on education in Russian schools for foreign children.