On March 7, 2022, day 12 of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, young musicians from Moscow's renowned Gnesin Russian Academy of Music arrived for a Gnesin Virtuosi rehearsal, the school's flagship chamber orchestra.

The conductor and school director, Mikhail Khokhlov, wore a black sweatshirt with a distinctive white zigzag, the letter "Z" — which has come to symbolize the Russian war against Ukraine, known in Russia only as "special military operation." Anyone who does not comply with that wording risks 15 years in prison camps.

Two or three people with cameras also showed up for the rehearsal. The conductor told his students a video was in the works to support colleagues whose performances in the West were cancelled because of their Russian nationality. Beethoven's Fifth, also called the Fateful Symphony, was laid out on the music stands.

A week later, a video just under seven minutes appeared on the internet, showing the young people playing the first part of the symphony, the maestro conducting with a determined expression.

The title of the video translates as "MuZical victim" — the emphasis on the "Z" is the actual message, clear support for the war against Ukraine.

Students 'didn't know what the recording was for'

That was so manipulative, says Roman Mints, a star violinist and Gnesin graduate. "The young people didn't even know what the recording was for," he told DW.

Almost everyone who is known in the Russian music world, and went on to have an international career, went to the renowned Gnesin Academy, including Evgeny Kissin and Daniil Trifonov, both pianists and composers.

What happened at the school is significant, argues Mints, who left for the UK with his family when the invasion began.

"It's the Russian state in miniature in a way, with a despotic leader at the top, the only one in charge," he says. The entire system is riddled with fear, he adds. "The opinion of the individual has no meaning; everyone is just a cog in the wheel, people are just human material."

About Mikhail Khokhlov

The conductor Khokhlov, born in 1955, has headed the school for more than 30 years — longer than Vladimir Putin has been in power in the Kremlin.

For the 70th anniversary of the institution in 2016, Khokhlov praised the school's humanist tradition in interviews, saying the Gnesin sibling founders managed to stay independent even in the worst of times, cultivating what he called an "oasis of freedom."

In the 1990s, Khokhlov, a Gnesin graduate and the youngest director in the school's history, prevented the expropriation of the school at a time when Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov had an eye on the beautiful palace the school was housed in.

'He destroyed the school's spirit'

He may have saved the building, but he "destroyed the spirit of the school," says Maria R., one of the school's most respected piano teachers. Maria asked not to use her real name, as she is afraid to lose her job.

"Everyone is afraid: the teachers, the children, the parents," she told DW. She recalled that when she was a student at the school, the teachers and the administration — "intelligentsia of the old school," some aristocrats — managed to convey the lies perpetrated by the Soviet regime without putting it in so many words.

Today, she says, things are different — and everyone is partly to blame.

Some parents are outraged by what is happening. "I think it is underhanded and disgusting to drag children into such fascist orgies," one of the mothers posted in a parent chat on the school's page.

"My daughter and most of the children in the orchestra had no idea what that sign on the conductor's chest meant," the parent writes, adding a direct insult to Mikhail Khokhlov for turning their rehearsal into support for "that kind" of musical victims.

Your post collects a few likes, but also reactions of support: "Something like this in these times, which are so difficult for our country! This is written by a fervent Navalny admirer!"

The woman — she, too, does not want to see her name in print — says she goes to protests. She told DW she always packs a bag with a toothbrush, charger and power bank for her cell phone in case she is arrested.

Asked why her daughter does not know what the letter "Z" means, she says her kids are not allowed to watch TV, or use Facebook or Instagram. Echo Moskvy and TV Doschd used to be sources of information for the family, but they have been banned by the state. She also says her daughter is after all focused on her education.

'We care about their fate'

Meanwhile, the video has attracted international attention and sparked outrage.

Many Gnesin graduates sent a letter of protest: "We, Gnesin alumni of different generations, strongly condemn this action and consider it a terrible stain on the history of our school. A stain that damages the reputation of one of the best music academies in the world and the honor and memory of famous former lecturers of the Gnesin School. We also consider it unacceptable that underage students, as well as the name of the school, are used to express personal militaristic views."

More than 200 musicians signed the letter, including stars like Daniil Trifonov.

On March 21, the video was deleted from YouTube, but it is still on the school's page and on the Russian VKontakte social network.

Roman Mints, co-initiator of the letter, says the signatories deliberately left out the children — "unlike Khokhlov, we do care about their fate."

One of the students, let's call him Daniil, confirms it was a routine rehearsal; the young musicians had no idea what the video was really for. He says he is aware of the war, thinks it is terrible. He also says he heard about dead children, the destruction of Kharkiv and Mariupol, too — he has friends and relatives in Ukraine.

Asked whether he would have played if he had known beforehand how the video would be used, he told DW: "I think so," arguing that the rehearsal was mandatory. He has his heart set on the conservatory — for which he needs a Gnesin diploma.

This article was originally written in German.