Russians are reporting their OWN CHILDREN to the police for

Russians are reporting their OWN CHILDREN to the police for opposing Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

Russians are reporting their OWN CHILDREN to the police for opposing Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in a chilling echo of the Stalinist era

Russians are reporting their own children to the police for opposing the war in Ukraine in a chilling echo of the Stalinist era.

A mother of three from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk told The Mail on Sunday: “We live in a Soviet hell, with friends who report friends to the police, parents who reject their children. The extent of the heartbreak is very difficult to describe.’

In Moscow, a father reported his daughter to the police for allegedly speaking out against the war online.

Elmira Khalitova, a student and blogger living in the Russian capital, was arrested by police after her father falsely claimed that she had written Instagram posts calling for the killing of Russians.

Her father, who was drunk, called the police station and insisted that officers break into her home to arrest her.

Elmira Khalitova, a student and blogger living in the Russian capital, was arrested by police after her father falsely claimed that she had written Instagram posts calling for the killing of Russians

Elmira Khalitova, a student and blogger living in the Russian capital, was arrested by police after her father falsely claimed that she had written Instagram posts calling for the killing of Russians

Officers took her for questioning and took her phone to try to find the incriminating evidence on Instagram – but couldn’t open the app because it’s blocked in Russia. She was released due to lack of evidence.

Ms Khalitova said: “He felt it was his duty to go to the police and make a report. He had found another enemy of the people and brought him to justice.’

Speaking to Vice World News, she added: “It’s disgusting that all of this is being encouraged. That the government encourages people to do it.’

In Siberia, a father is said to have reported his son to the police for allegedly discrediting the Russian armed forces.

It is also reported that a husband in Moscow told police that his Ukrainian wife was against the war.

A 10-year-old schoolgirl in Moscow was taken from her classroom to a police station after the school principal reported her for using a social media profile picture with the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Students at other schools have reported their teachers for criticizing the war in Ukraine.

Slaughter: A resident yesterday at the site of a Russian strike in Kostyantynivka

Slaughter: A resident yesterday at the site of a Russian strike in Kostyantynivka

No teachers have been jailed yet, but some have been forced to resign.

In the Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991, ordinary citizens turned themselves in to the authorities for criticizing the Communist Party. Now history repeats itself.

Historian Sergei Radchenko told BBC Today: “This practice dates back to Joseph Stalin, but it is also common in dictatorial regimes to report on your neighbors and sometimes even your friends.” Stalin’s campaign of terror in the 1930s that led citizens to denounce their friends, neighbors, bosses and even their own children. Millions were sent to labor camps and hundreds of thousands died.

Ukrainian officials last night accused Russia of attacking a residential neighborhood in the eastern city of Kostyantynivka, killing three people, while Russia claimed an attack on a hospital in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine that killed 14 people was a war crime.

In his daily broadcast, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that major battles were underway around Vuhledar, southwest of Donetsk, and Bakhmut in the northeast.