New school lays out a future in military service for children of Pechenga
The brand new school in the military town located only few kilometres from Norway and Finland will bring up "a new generation of heroes," local authorities say.
Distinguished guests arrived in Pechenga for the opening of the new building that will significantly enlarge the local School No 5. The opening ceremony took place on 9 December, Russia's so-called 'Day of Heroes,' a day of military praise and jubilation. “I am confident that the walls of this school will breed more generations of heroes,” Murmansk Governor Andrei Chibis underlined in a comment made during his visit. Video from the opening of school posted by Governor Andrei Chibis. The school will primarily house kids of soldiers serving in the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade in Sputnik and the 200th Motorised Rifle Brigade in Pechenga, Chibis explained.
According to Lyubov Cherepanova, a local member of the Murmansk regional Duma (parliament), the town of Pechenga has a “past of heroism, self-sacrifice and great deeds.” The new school building have several wall paintings of warriors that have been killed in Ukraine. “These initiatives, among them the wall paintings, demonstrate to our children not only historical facts, but also the human qualities that we want to convey to the future generations,” Cherepanova says in a statement on social media VK. Among the 'heroes' that are depicted on the school walls in Pechenga is Andrei Spirin, the deputy commander of the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade that was killed in Ukraine in July 2022. During the opening ceremony of new building, an online meeting with storm troopers from the the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade fighting in Ukraine was broadcasted to local school kids. Since late 2022, School No 5 in Pechenga has carried the name of Mikhail Popov, the warrior that is believed to have been involved in a mass killing of Ukrainian soldiers during the first phase of Russia's war of aggression.
According to Russian authorities, the 34 old soldier ordered the elimination of 150 enemy infantry soldiers during the first phase of the onslaught on Ukraine. Popov was born in the nearby naval infantry base of Sputnik and graduated from School No 5 in Pechenga. He now reportedly holds the rank of mayor and serves as deputy head commander of a rifle battalion under the 200th Motorised Infantry Brigade. None of the reported achievements of the soldier can be independently verified. It is more of an established fact that hundreds of Popov’s comrades-in-arm were killed already in the first days of the attacks on Kharkiv.
Among them were reportedly also head commander of the Brigade, Colonel Denis Kurilo. In August 2022, Mikhail Popov was given the award Hero of Russia. He is now one of a total of 19 individuals in the municipality that have gotten the award, local authorities say. The town of Pechenga is located in the Pechenga municipality, an area that used to be part of Finland. Before the Soviet annexation of 1944, the area was called Petsamo and the town — Parkkina.
