The Tomsk Region Education Department has defended a ban on clothing with foreign-language inscriptions adopted by several schools in the region, saying it is meant to shield children from “alien and dangerous” meanings.

At least two schools have introduced the ban: the Gubernatorsky Svetlensky Lyceum and School No. 1 in Kedrovy. VTomske, a Tomsk-based news outlet, asked the regional education department for comment and received the following response.

Today, children and teenagers are under serious informational pressure. Under the guise of fashion, a joke, or an innocent phrase, a child can be exposed to alien and dangerous ideas. Falling under such influence, a child may, without even realizing it, put on an item of clothing with an extremist print or a destructive slogan.

The department also warned that a child may not know the foreign language in question and that parents buying clothes may not check the “true meaning” of an inscription — a situation whose consequences, officials said, could “seriously affect” the child’s future.

The actual order introducing the ban is not publicly available. The education department did not respond to questions about where it could be found or whether the measures are mandatory for all schools in the region.