Russian Human Rights Council head calls for campaign to scare teenagers away from online crime recruiters

Valery Fadeyev, head of the Kremlin-appointed Human Rights Council, has called for Russian schoolchildren to be shown “chilling examples” of what happens to young people who get drawn into criminal schemes by online recruiters, including cases of teenagers convicted on terrorism charges.

Fadeyev said students should be told repeatedly about fraud schemes and criminal recruitment tactics, including during Important Conversations, the mandatory patriotic education lessons held in Russian schools, until the message sinks in.

“I think we need to hammer it, hammer it, hammer it into schoolchildren’s heads until they feel physically ill,” Fadeyev said in an interview with state news agency TASS. “Yes, it’s not very pleasant. But how else do you convince them? You can only convince them with these kinds of examples — negative examples. By showing them what the consequences can be.”

Fadeyev proposed using the stories of peers whose lives had been “broken” to illustrate the dangers of contact with recruiters.

He also argued that prevention efforts need to happen directly in schools, since young people rarely watch television or read newspapers. To that end, he suggested inviting uniformed prosecutors and investigators into classrooms to speak with students in a “stern” tone. Students, he said, should be reminded regularly that involvement in such crimes could ruin not only their own lives but their families’ as well.

As of 1 June 2026, at least 240 minors had been arrested in Russia in connection with alleged terrorism and sabotage attacks since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to independent outlet Mediazona. In many cases, Russian authorities blamed Ukrainian intelligence services for recruiting the young suspects.