“I'm going to come to the school and the city and kill everyone there,” a young man with long hair, large headphones around his neck and a blurred face says in a synthesized voice in the video. The video is captioned: "On Monday, my friends and I will break into the schools of Yevpatoria. I admired the hero Vladislav Roslyakov, I have been preparing for this for a long time and my time has come."

Last week, this video appeared in one of the Yevpatorian publics.  The video was quickly removed by the authors themselves, but it caused a lot of stir. Starting today and for three days, a “high security” regime has been announced in Crimean schools.

"It was a hoax, one hundred percent. They recorded some nerd on another occasion. But he said something about the school, so they cut out those words and changed his voice. They reoorded on their own about how excited he was there and publtshed it on telegram," a high school student from Sudak City School does not give his name, but assures us that the vast majority of his peers have the same opinion about the threats in the video.

However, not everyone in the same school shares the teenage skepticism. "It is clear that most likely nothing will happen. But it's still scary. Especially after we were laid on the floor a few days ago, as if there had been a terrorist attack," another student shares her fears. The girl was very impressed by the drills to practice behavior in the event of a terrorist attack that were held last week in Crimean schools.

The students do not deny that there may indeed be followers of Vladislav Roslyakov, who in 2018 carried out a terrorist attack on the Kerch College where he studied. The 18-year-old armed himself with a shotgun and Molotov cocktails, planted an improvised explosive device in the cafeteria, and opened fire on students and staff of the college, after which he shot himself. Twenty-one people were killed and 67 were injured. This attack is recognized as the largest massacre in an educational institution in the modern history of Europe.

“Взагалі так, тема може засісти в голові в тих, кого булять, або просто в психів. Є в цьому усьому "In general, yes, the topic can stick in the minds of those who are being bullied or just psychos. There is something attractive in all this - to leave brightly, to show an example of a real protest," says a high school student from Sudak. Most likely, the adults who were guided by the same thoughts and took the threat seriously intended to protect the students. But how exactly are the “enhanced security measures” being implemented?

"We received an order from the education department. They made us come to school half an hour earlier. They gave us additional instructions about the inspection on the frame and the need to pay attention to the behavior of “difficult teenagers,” says a teacher at a Simferopol school, not hiding her irritation. "How will the frame stop an armed person? Our security guard has only a button to call the rapid response fighters. By the time they arrive, this person will have time to mow down two or three dozen people. Instead of chasing us around once again, they should have put some normal guards at the entrance," she says.

All the Crimean schoolchildren we interviewed did not notice any increase in security measures at all. In the morning, however, residents of the Crimean capital learned about large-scale anti-terrorist exercises, under the guise of which Russian security forces deployed numerous checkpoints at all key interchanges in the city and at the entrances to it, including firing points fortified with sandbags and camouflaged with nets. At such checkpoints, cars are stopped by traffic police officers, and then representatives of the special services are involved in the inspection. Special forces armed with assault rifles and in full combat gear are walking around the city, and Simferopol publics report that Russian soldiers with mine detectors were seen along the railroad tracks and in other places.

“Зупинив даішник. Але такий - у касці, у броніку. З автоматом. Покажіть права. Відкрийте багажник. "I was stopped by a traffic policeman. But he was wearing a helmet and armor. With an assault rifle. Show me your license. Open the trunk. What's in the cabin? He took the license to his car, the other one checked the trunk and the interior," one of the residents of Simferopol recounts his morning. We have already told you that anti-terrorist exercises with blocking of settlements, disconnection of mobile communications, and checking of vehicles and phones have become regular in Crimea. So, most likely, the next large-scale action is in no way related to the threat in the Yevpatorian public, but is taking place as planned.

Crimeans, meanwhile, note that the appearance of such videos against the backdrop of regular “anti-terrorist exercises” shows that the efforts of Russian security forces are clearly not aimed at preventing terrorism. Human rights activists see the problem in the militarization of schoolchildren. "Before the occupation of the peninsula, there were no terrorist acts on its territory. Today, more than 140 Crimeans have been accused of terrorist activities, anti-terrorist drills are held almost every week, and all schools are fenced and equipped with metal detectors. And we still see that all this does not help," states one of the Crimean public activists and suggests: "Maybe the problem is the militarization of children? The fact that holding a weapon has become a norm for them and they do not see a problem with using it to resolve their conflicts?"