A school run by Russia’s foreign ministry in west London has been teaching pupils how to operate military combat drones, according to reports.
The Russian Embassy School in Notting Hill educates children of diplomatic staff and individuals identified as suspected intelligence operatives, with a portrait of Vladimir Putin greeting pupils at the entrance.
Housed in a Victorian townhouse just half a mile from the Russian embassy, the school teaches children holding British citizenship alongside those with Russian nationality.
Lesson plans from the current academic year show that pupils aged 15 and 16 were taught last month about the technical preparation and communications used for unmanned aerial combat vehicles, The Times has revealed.
The instruction forms part of a programme known as Fundamentals of Security and Protection of the Motherland – or OBZR – which was introduced across Russian schools at the start of the 2024/25 academic year.
The curriculum includes fortifications engineering, battlefield medical care and defensive measures against radiological, biological and chemical attacks.
Pupils are also taught weapons handling, trench construction, military drill and the distinction between conscripted and contracted military service.
Ian Garner, author of Z Generation, warned the training goes far beyond basic safety.
The Russian Embassy School in Notting Hill educates children of diplomatic staff at Vladimir Putin’s embassy
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“Students [at the embassy school] are learning very real military skills,” he said. “This isn’t a course designed to keep safe in the event of an emergency.”
He added: “These are courses that are saying to kids who are studying in England that you need to align yourself with a military identity.”
The school, founded in 1954, is one of around 80 Russian embassy schools worldwide, all operating under the state curriculum overseen by the foreign ministry.
Around 60 children aged between seven and 18 attend full-time each year, with a further 40 enrolled in evening classes.
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Around 60 children aged between seven and 18 attend the school full-time each year
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Around three-quarters of pupils have parents working at the Russian embassy or trade mission.
The remainder include children of Russians living in Britain and staff from the Belarusian embassy.
History lessons rely on state-approved textbooks written by Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide, which portray Ukraine as a Western puppet seeking to destabilise Russia.
Earlier reports have claimed pupils were taught to assemble Kalashnikov rifles and practised grenade throwing using tennis balls.
The school operates as part of the Russian embassy and therefore benefits from diplomatic exemptions
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Because the school operates as part of the Russian embassy, it benefits from diplomatic exemptions and falls outside the oversight of the Department for Education and Ofsted.
As a result, British authorities have no power to inspect or regulate the military-focused curriculum being delivered.
Among former pupils were the daughters of Colonel Maxim Elovik, the embassy’s defence attaché from 2012, who was expelled in May 2024 after being identified as an undeclared Russian military intelligence officer.
The school has also previously hosted fundraising events in support of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Poland shut down a similar Russian embassy school in Warsaw in 2023 – a move the Kremlin condemned as an “invasion”.