A court in Yaroslavl fined Shadrova under a protocol concerning mention of an “undesirable organization”, reports Mediazona. She was accused of including links to the British Council website in an English-language assignment that she sent to students on VKontakte.
The administrative protocol against Shadrova was first sent to court back in March, and at that time the court found no offense in her actions. The ruling stated that “the document does not contain the results of following the hyperlinks”, and the materials they led to were not examined by officers of the internal affairs agencies.
In May, the appellate court overturned that ruling and sent the case back for a new hearing. Mediazona notes that this is already at least the fifth case in which Yaroslavl teachers have been fined under protocols concerning mention of “undesirable organizations” — the British Council and Yale University in the United States.
The British Council is a public organization that operates in more than 200 countries and territories, according to its website. It helps organize IELTS tests, funds international educational programs, and develops cultural ties between the United Kingdom and other countries.
The British Council worked in Russia for more than 20 years. In 2018, after the poisoning in the United Kingdom of former GRU officer Sergei Skripal, at the request of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the British Council left the country; in 2025, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office recognized it as an organization whose activities are undesirable on the territory of Russia.
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