Alexei Moskalev: Father of girl who drew anti-war picture released from prison

The family’s problems began back in 2022 after Masha, then 12, drew a Ukrainian flag in April with the words “Glory to Ukraine”, rockets and a Russian flag with the phrase “No to war!”

Moskalev said the school reported his daughter’s drawing to police. After that, he was fined for an anti-war social media post.

But after his flat was searched in December of that year he was charged under the criminal code because he had already been convicted of a similar offence.

Authorities separated Masha from her father and placed her into a children’s home, and later into the custody of her estranged mother.

Moskalev was sentenced to two years in jail in March 2023.

He did not attend the sentence hearing, having escaped house arrest to flee the country for neighbouring Belarus, OVD-Info said.

He was later detained and extradited back to Russia the following month, the organisation added.

Speaking to the BBC last year, the town councillor Olga Podolskaya said she was in “shock”.

“A prison sentence for expressing your opinion is a terrible thing. A two-year jail term is a nightmare.”