Russian man sentenced to two years in jail over daughter's anti-war artwork

Alexey Moskalyov, a Russian man whose teenage daughter drew an anti-war picture at school, has been sentenced to two years in prison for his own online posts critical of the invasion of Ukraine. Moskalyov had been charged with “discrediting the Russian military” and was under house arrest in the Tula region after being accused of repeatedly publishing anti-war posts. In April last year, Moskalyov’s 13-year-old daughter Masha drew a picture of Russian missiles being fired at a Ukrainian family and wrote “No to war” and “Glory to Ukraine” during her art class. On December 30, Moskalyov’s house was searched in connection with repeated “discrediting” of the Russian army based on his comments on social media. Moskalyov pleaded not guilty but failed to turn up to his hearing in the city of Yefremov on Tuesday.

After Moskalyov was placed under house arrest at the beginning of this month, Masha – who he was raising alone – was placed in an orphanage. Masha Moskalyov, a 16-year-old girl from Yefremov, Russia, has been accused of kidnapping her mother. In a video published by the independent Russian Telegram channel SOTA, lawyer Vladimir Bilienko displayed some of Masha's drawings for her father. According to the chairman of the commission for minors in Yefremov, the family had been on a preventive list of families in a socially dangerous situation since May last year. Alexander Brod, a member of the Human Rights Council, said Moskalyov did not fulfil his obligations as a father and that Masha had not attended school for a year.

Moskalyov was given two years in a penal colony. The Russian human rights group Memorial said that the criminal prosecution of Moskalyov is motivated by his political views and is aimed at the involuntary termination of civil activity of critics of the authorities and intimidation of the society as a whole.