Balalaika of death: teacher from Yekaterinburg lured children into dangerous games

On Wednesday, November 19, disturbing circumstances related to a balalaika teacher from one of the local schools were revealed in Yekaterinburg. According to law enforcement agencies, the teacher invited children to his home and offered them money to participate in dangerous "games." After the parents' appeals, the man was fired, and the check turned into a full-fledged investigation. For more information about what exactly happened, what actions the teacher took and how the situation is developing now, see the Izvestia article.

The Yekaterinburg incident: what happened, the latest news

On Wednesday, November 19, Artyom V., a 33-year-old balalaika teacher, was detained in Yekaterinburg. In connection with the involvement of minors in life-threatening activities. This was reported by the portal E1.Ru with reference to their sources.

According to the newspaper, the teacher invited students for 10-15 years under the pretext of checking the equipment for the school. However, the "test" turned into experiments with breathing: a man put a plastic bag on the children and held it for up to half an hour, offering the teenagers money for participation.

The incident became publicized after a video of the teacher's illegal actions appeared online. The parents of the victims contacted the police, and the inspection materials were transferred to the regional department of the Investigative Committee.

As he claims E1.Ru A criminal case has been opened against Artyom V. under Article 151.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Involvement of a minor in acts endangering life"), which provides for up to three years in prison and a ban on teaching. The Investigative Committee has not yet commented on the information, but the Ministry of Education of the Sverdlovsk region confirmed to Izvestia that an investigation into the teacher's actions was underway.

According to the portal, Artyom V. worked in the Department of additional education at school No. 17 and led the Overtone children's balalaika ensemble. After the video appeared on the Internet, the teacher was fired.

Following in the footsteps of a maniac: who is Artyom V.

According to the parents of the students, Artyom V. has long caused many to be wary. They describe him as introverted, unsociable, often unkempt and with an uncertain, "shaky" gait. The teacher was not married and had no children, preferring to spend time alone or in a close circle of his students.

His parents were particularly perplexed by his behavior on social networks. The teacher himself called himself "Anatoly Slivko" — an identification referring to the infamous Soviet serial criminal operating in the Stavropol Territory. Slivko ran a tourist club and committed serious crimes against minors, for which he was sentenced to capital punishment and executed in 1989. The choice of such a pseudonym, the parents note, seemed alarming to them long before the law enforcement agencies became aware of the teacher's actions.

At school, Artyom V. worked in additional education and led a children's ensemble. Officially, no complaints have been received against him before, but some parents admit that they felt uncomfortable when communicating with the teacher.

The consequence for the educational institution

After the incident came to light, the school inevitably faced serious consequences, both from the control authorities and from the parent community. First of all, the management launched an internal investigation to understand how the teacher managed to act outside the field of view of the administration. Usually, in such cases, local safety rules, additional education regulations, and the procedure for staff interaction with children outside the school grounds are reviewed.

In parallel, the institution usually receives external inspections from the regional Ministry of Education. They evaluate the personnel policy, the organization of the team's work, compliance with safety standards and violence prevention.

If necessary, the Prosecutor's Office and the Investigative Committee are involved, which makes the check comprehensive. At the same time, there is a restriction, the administration cannot interfere in the personal lives of teachers or collect confidential information without sufficient legal grounds — such actions require procedural decisions or the participation of investigators.

For a school, such situations always become a serious reputational blow. Parents are losing trust, demanding harsh measures and public explanations, and the institution is forced to strengthen security measures, introduce additional briefings, review requirements for teachers, and train staff in ethics and risk prevention.

Psychologists and social services are often involved in the work to help students and strengthen the juvenile protection system.

Earlier: similar cases in Chelyabinsk

The incident in Yekaterinburg occurred against the background of another disturbing event that attracted public attention on the same day. The Investigative Committee of the Chelyabinsk region reported on the attack of a 14-year-old schoolgirl on a teacher in the city of Kartaly. According to the agency, right during the lesson, the girl stabbed the teacher in the neck with a nail scissors part after making a remark to her. The victim needed medical attention, and the incident itself caused a resonance among parents and the teaching community.

Investigators have opened a criminal case on grounds of negligence (Part 1 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), which is related to possible security violations in the educational organization. In parallel, a pre-investigation check is being conducted under the article on causing minor harm to health (Article 115 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

At the moment, the investigation is establishing all the details of what happened. Camera recordings are being actively studied, participants and witnesses are being interrogated, and the general atmosphere in the classroom and school is being analyzed.

Consequences for children

Psychologists and educators note that the incident with the teacher in Yekaterinburg and other similar cases can have long-term consequences for their mental health. All this points to the general problem of the deterioration of the emotional climate in schools.

Aggression in adolescents often becomes a reaction to stress, overload, or lack of healthy ways to express emotions. Experts emphasize that schools often underestimate the importance of regular psychological support for students, especially teenagers, for whom criticism or intense conflicts can be devastating.

Lawyers draw attention to the fact that both episodes became possible against the background of "failures" in the control system. So, in the Chelyabinsk region, due to insufficient preventive work with the classroom, in Yekaterinburg, due to the lack of mechanisms for detecting deviant behavior of the teacher.

Teachers emphasize that such cases reflect the need for constant monitoring of the emotional and physical safety of students, as well as the importance of early detection of alarm signals among children and school staff. Thus, without a systematic approach to prevention and student support, the consequences can be long-term, affecting trust in the educational environment and the general psychological state of the school's generation.