Money-laundering makes Russian parents send their children to school

Parents of many Russian children sent to privileged British schools have Russian criminal underworld connections, said the influential British newspaper Times on Monday. As claimed by the paper, some schools notice a certain rivalry between Russian pupils that have "definite origins". In one of the East England schools its headmaster had to turn to police after learning that two Russian schoolchildren are staying in his school not to study but to engage in a "different activity", which, the paper says, "may be connected with money-laundering". Very frequently, The Times says, well-heeled Russian parents show an interest in the names of other Russian pupils in the same school with their children. At present, according to The Times, British elite schools have over 1,000 Russian school pupils. The paper quotes one of the school principals as saying that although there are talented pupils among Russian children the style of life of some of them does not match the standards of schoolchildren behaviour. One of the schools recently disciplined a pupil from Russia for spending 1,000 pounds of his "pocket money" at the weekend. The headmaster had to warn the boy that "this is not done here".