irina, 41, works as a senior contract manager at the livny construction college. arseny was born in dubai to a uae citizen father. irina soon separated, returned to russia, and raised her son alone. the boy attended the livny lyceumone of the top schools in the oryol region. in year six, arseny began to face bullying due to his skin colour. his father cut off contact with us in 2013; hes starting a family there, following his traditions. we were simply cut off, as if we never existed. the kids at school found out about this. the bullying began: your father doesnt want you, you negro, african american, go back to where you came from. arseny would say: im a russian citizen, why are you treating me like this?  turbina recalls. according to her, the lyceum never wanted to address the situation honestly, and after another incident, the headteacher accused arseny of lying and said that he was mad and it was all in his head. in february 2021, irina turbina continues, classmates beat her son. they dragged him into the shop class in the basement and started kicking him. it was 19c. they threw him outside through the emergency door and bolted it. he fell ill and was sick for a month with ear inflammation and everything, says irina. she managed to transfer him to another class, but the bullying continued. eventually, he changed classes again. despite this, irina says some teachers continued to unfairly evaluate her son and nitpick him. he won the city geography olympiad that year, took prizes in the intellectual marathon in russian and english, but was ultimately not put on the honour roll. even some classmates started to ask, why not?  says irina. arseny began to think about social injustice and got deeply into navalny and other movements, his mother says.   06/27/turbin
NATO