A 17-year-old student killed his teacher with a knife at a school in the Perm region before being arrested on Tuesday, according to local authorities, who are still investigating what led to the early morning attack.
Perm region Governor Dmitry Makhonin said the deadly incident took place at School No. 5 in Dobryanka, a town of around 30,000 people located 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the regional capital.
The teacher was taken to a nearby hospital after the knife attack. “Unfortunately, Russian language and literature teacher Olesya Petrovna Baguta could not be saved despite the doctors’ best efforts,” Makhonin said in a statement.
Law enforcement authorities said they arrested the suspected assailant, who was identified as a ninth-grade student at the school. Baguta was said to be his homeroom teacher.
Anonymous police sources told the state-run TASS news agency that the ninth-grader is believed to have been struggling academically and may have conflicted with Baguta.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top investigative body, said its federal office would take over a criminal probe into murder and negligence.
Education officials in the Perm region said afternoon classes were canceled at School No. 5 in Dobryanka, while security measures were stepped up at other schools in the region.
A number of violent and deadly school attacks have taken place in Russia since late last year.
In February, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said law enforcement had prevented 21 school attacks across the country since the start of 2026.
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