Scandal in Russian military town Pechenga as new school is decorated with picture of US fighter jets
It stirred a public outcry when it became known that the new school in Pechenga had a wall decorated with pictures of F-16s. It did not take long before the American aircraft were removed. And replaced.
"I am confident that the walls of this school will breed new generations of heroes," Murmansk Governor Andrei Chibis underlined as he this week paid a visit to the new school in Pechenga.
If the governor had been a military man, he might have noticed that some of those walls were hardly designed for breeding of current-day Russian patriotism.
Praise to the Russian military in School No 5 in Pechenga as Governor Andrei Chibis comes to take part in the official opening of a new school complex. Video: Chibis on Telegram
Next to the first graders' class room was a wall with text "I am a patriot" painted on top of the Russian Army star. Alongside were three fighter jets with jet clouds painted in the Russian tricolor.
The problem, however, was that the aircraft were not Russian, but American.
Two Norwegian experts confirm to the Barents Observer that the fighter jets depicted in the Pechenga school are actually U.S made F-16s.
Telegram channel Fighterbomber soon commented on the very "unpatriotic" wall decoration in Pechenga. A wave of attention followed. In few hours, the social media post had almost 700 comments.
"The aircraft are probably trophies from Ukraine," a reader comments sarcastically.
"The pictures should have included also an S-400 missile defence system," another comment reads.
"The enemy is nearby, and sometimes even among us," a third reader writes.
It did not last long before the local school responded to the criticism. Less than two days after the official opening ceremony, which included a show with kids dressed in uniform and marching with kalashnikovs, the F-16s were removed.
And replaced.
On the wall are now three Russian Su-57 jets.
In a comment, the school explains that the pictures had been made by kids and that they "could be understood ambiguously."
And the original pictures were not of F-16s, but of the Russian Su-27, the school argues.
"On the wall of the new building of School No 5 in Pechenga were depicted schematically the silhouettes of aircraft, made on the basis of the Su-27. But considering the fact that children's drawings can be understood in multiple ways, it was decided to make changes. In order to avoid misreading, the pictures now show the silhouettes of aircraft Su-57."
School No 5 is located only few kilometres from the border to NATO countries Norway and Finland. It primarily teaches kids of soldiers serving in Russia's 61st Naval Infantry Brigade in Sputnik and the 200th Motorised Rifle Brigade in Pechenga.
The F-16 is the fighter jet that has been used for several decades by nearby Nordic neighbor Norway.
It is not the first time that Russian designers unfamiliar with military equipment have mixed Russian and American hardware.
In 2022, local authorities in Gadzhievo, the Russian submarine base, wanted to give the centre of the town a much-needed facelift.
A submarine in surface position surrounded by stormy waves was painted on a house facade. It was made in an artistic way by a professional muralist.
The only problem was that it was not a Russian submarine, but a U.S submarine of the Los Angeles-Class.
“How disgusting! Why paint an enemy vessel?!” a comment on social media read. And the person added that “we have our own submarines, and they are by far more beautiful than the ones of our foe.”
“Shame on the town administration!” another reader wrote.
The town administration soon had to repaint the vessel. The house wall now shows a Russian Delta sub.
