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Financial Times
Financial Times
World
Polina Ivanova

‘Total distrust’: rise of the Russian informers

Russia Police Josef Stalin Vladimir Putin Kremlin proUkraine Sonya Ukraine FSB OVDInfo
Varya Galkina and her mother Elena Jolicoeur in their flat on the outskirts of Moscow © Patrick Wack/FT

Varya Galkina, a smart and studious 10-year-old, began getting into trouble with her schoolteachers in Moscow last September, a few weeks into the new academic year. 

First, they noticed she was regularly skipping the new Russian patriotism classes that had just been added to the national curriculum. Then they spotted that she had set a pro-Ukraine symbol as her profile picture on WhatsApp. 

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