Mexico City, Mexico.- Masha Moskaleva, a 12-year-old sixth-grader in the city of Efremov, south of Moscow, could not have known the hell she would unleash by showing an innocent drawing condemning the war against Ukraine.
It all started in April 2022, shortly after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The little girl showed a sketch at her school in which she depicted a Ukrainian flag with the message “Glory to Ukraine”, as well as rockets launched from the Russian side and a flag of her country with the phrase “No to war!” At school they called the police for the content of the paper.
That was enough for the authorities in her country to start harassing the girl and her father. Masha’s drawing led the Russian regime to monitor the social media accounts of her father and her legal guardian, Alexei Moskalev.
Last year, he was fined 32,000 rubles (about $415 at the time). However, that was not the end. A few weeks ago criminal proceedings were opened against him for the publications against the war. They also accused him of raising her daughter badly for teaching her pacifist ideas. The Russian government maintains that both Masha and Alexei “discredit the army.”
A few weeks ago the nightmare intensified: the authorities opened legal proceedings against Alexei and Macha was taken from him.
The father was placed under house arrest in Yefremov, while his daughter was sent to a juvenile facility, without allowing the two to communicate in any way.
Yesterday the news broke that the girl would be handed over to her mother, whom she had not seen for years. At first, Masha refused, but that was her only option to get out of the center where she was held.
As for his father, he fled one day before the sentence was announced. He supposedly would have been detained in Belarus, an ally of Putin, but this information has not been confirmed. No one knows for sure where Alexei is. He was sentenced to two years in prison because his daughter drew a drawing that called for peace.
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