From this Reuters story: 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow schools have been ordered to ban students from celebrating the cult of the dead, better known as Halloween, despite the widespread popularity of the imported festival to Russia…

“This is destructive for the minds and the spiritual and moral health of pupils,” said Gavrilov, saying the ban had been recommended by psychiatrists.

“It’s not an attempt to block the celebration of this holiday completely, just in schools and colleges.”

You know, this reminds me of when many decades ago the hacks running the Soviet Union decided the same thing about Jazz music. First Jazz started to spread and everyone loved it, and then they called it evil, and it had to go underground with recordings being kept home in secret. No public concerts would be allowed, etc.  I guess they couldn’t handle the truth about something great coming out of a free market environment overseas. In a way Russia now is starting to revert back in its quest to make itself appear as tough and as relevant as in the decades of the past.