The Russian teenager separated from her father for a drawing on Ukraine was entrusted to her mother
New episode in an emblematic story of repression in Russia: the teenager separated from her father for having made a drawing in support of Ukraine has finally been entrusted to her mother, whom she had not seen for years.
Denounced by her school after drawing missiles falling on a Ukrainian family, Maria Moskaliova, aged 13 and nicknamed Masha, was taken from her father, who was raising her alone, and placed in a home in March. The father, Alexei Moskaliov, has since been sentenced to two years in prison for denigrating the Russian army. He was arrested last week in Belarus where he had fled, but his entourage and the justice system do not know where he is now.
A court in Efremov, 300 km south of Moscow, which was to consider Thursday a request for restriction of parental rights of Mr. Moskaliov dismissed this trial, having failed to locate him to convene him.
On Wednesday evening, on the eve of the scheduled start of this trial, the authorities announced that the mother, Olga Sitchikhina, who had not seen Masha for several years, had suddenly reappeared and picked up the child. “Olga took Masha out of the social rehabilitation center where she was at her request”Russian Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova said on Telegram on Wednesday evening.
“Let’s hope all goes well for mother and daughter”added this Russian official, targeted in another case by an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court accusing him of having deported Ukrainian children to Russia.
“They hadn’t lived together for a long time and communicated very little. Initially, Masha didn’t want to see her mother.”said Ms. Lvova-Belova. “But she changed her mind, she told me herself on the phone”.
The case of Masha and her father has aroused great emotion in Russia, becoming emblematic of the repression against those who denounce the military offensive launched by the Kremlin against Ukraine. An online petition launched in Russia to demand the return of the child to his father has collected more than 145,000 signatures, despite the climate of fear.
Read also: In Russia, a broken family and ever-heavier anti-war verdicts
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