Originally Posted by Rochard

Do any of you even read any more?

It appears that the underlying reason behind the command is that the Russian government is concerned about the optics of having children of the Russian political elite being educated abroad, while their parents appear on television talking about patriotism and being "surrounded by enemies."

They aren't pulling the kids back because they are planning to go to war, but because they think it looks bad that the nation's political elite are being trained abroad.