Ein 11-jähriges ukrainisches Mädchen in Finnland sagte ihrer Lehrerin, sie wolle kein Lied auf Russisch singen. Der Lehrer antwortete: „In der Schule reden wir nicht über den Krieg.“

My wife works with several young Ukrainians at our local school and has arranged tailored educational help to their needs. The lack of understanding shown in that Finnish school by that teacher is astoundingly stupid but I’m sure, like my wife and her school, a great many are very willing to go out of their way to help these young people who are suffering so much. Stay strong.

Hmmm, very sussy, is the teacher maybe of RuZ?

This is a disgusting lapse in judgment on that teacher’s part unless he/she were a distant spawn of [one the Finnish Reds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Socialist_Workers%27_Republic) from the time of the Finnish Civil War and trying to channel his/her Bolshevik-loving ancestors. If that were the case, then I’m ultimately unsurprised by this teacher’s social cluelessness and dоuсhеbаggеrу. Based on the kid’s account, it was this teacher’s *choice* to browbeat her with the Russian supremacist complex and make her figuratively eat Russian-flavored ѕhіt.

BTW, the [Finnish source](https://yle.fi/a/74-20191073) (YLE) for Suspilne’s article goes into more detail since I can tell that the latter is based on only the first half of the Finnish source. I’ve included a DeepL translation of the second half of the Finnish original.

>[…]
The incident has shocked Ukrainians living in Finland, many of whom strongly believe that culture cannot be separated from politics. The incident has been widely discussed on social media.

>“We are very saddened by this situation. It raises the question of whether it is appropriate to promote Russian culture in schools,“ says Vassili Hutsul, chair of the Ukrainian Association in Finland.

>Iryna Horkun-Silén, the mother of one of the schoolchildren, says that this is not the first case in Finland where the Russian language and culture have put Ukrainians in an uncomfortable situation.

>Horkun-Silén points out that although many Ukrainians understand Russian and can speak it, the language is traumatic for Ukrainians. It is the language of the people who are currently killing Ukrainians, she says. The Ukrainian mother is surprised that this does not seem to be clear to Finns.

>For example, most of the services offered to Ukrainians in Finland are only available in Russian. In the capital region, there are hardly any Finnish language courses in Ukrainian, only in Russian. In addition, in many situations, Ukrainian interpreters are replaced by Russian interpreters, according to the Ukrainian association.

>Russian is not a neutral language for Ukrainians. From their perspective, it is the language of violence, war, and oppression. This is according to Eilina Gusatinsky from the Cultura Foundation, which promotes the integration of Russian speakers.

>“The Russian language has a historical burden; it is a symbol of Russification and the suppression of Ukrainian identity,“ says Gusatinsky.

>“If this is not recognized, it is easy to unwittingly repeat the old colonialist model, in which Ukrainian culture is once again overshadowed in the so-called common post-Soviet space.

>It is important that the integration of Ukrainians in Finland is based on respect and the recognition of Ukrainian identity as independent and valuable, Gusatinsky emphasizes.

N.B. Eilina Gusatinsky (sic) is an interesting and refreshing case as a member of the Russian diaspora. Her mother is a Finn who moved to Moscow as a university student during the Cold War and eventually married a local. Eilina moved to Finland in 1990 after finishing her university studies but judging by her comments to YLE, she’s clearly not bothered by telling it like it is about the sinister colonialist stench that her native language holds for Ukrainians and other non-Russians from the old USSR.

Why is a Fin teacher forcing students to sing in Russian? That seems made fishy.