Russian police arrest man after daughter found drawing anti-Kremlin sketches at school

As the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its second year with the Kremlin continuing to remain strict against people favouring Ukraine, it has come to light that Russian authorities on Wednesday arrested a Russian man for making anti-war statements. Moreover, his 12-year-old daughter was temporarily taken into a state care centre for drawing a painting depicting Russia bombing a family in Ukraine.

According to The Guardian, Alexei Moskalyov, a single parent from the town of Yefremov, 150 miles south of Moscow, was detained for making anti-war statements on Odnoklassniki, a Russian social network. Moskalyov was taken into police custody after officials searched his house, and his daughter was sent to a shelter centre until his father is released.

"She’ll be under state care until her father’s fate is decided," said Vladimir Bilienko, a lawyer for Moskalyov. On being asked what could happen if he was convicted, he said that if no close relative could be found, then a "single option would remain, an orphanage."

Russian authorities detain man after daughter draws pro-Ukraine drawings

"That would be a blow to a girl who has lived with her father her whole life," he told The Guardian. "So tomorrow we’re going to do everything possible to ensure that her father remains free. And so that she can live at home with him," he added.

It is important to mention that the family has complained that they have faced pressure from the police since last April, when Maria, who studies in the sixth grade, denied participating in a patriotic class at her school and made several drawings showing rockets being fired at a family standing under a Ukrainian flag and another that said "Glory to Ukraine!". Later, the school authorities summoned her father, and he was subsequently fined about £350 for a post online in which he characterised the Russian army as "rapists".

"For three and a half hours, they told me that I was raising a child incorrectly; they said they would take her away from me and they would put me in jail," Moskalyov said in the interview with OVD-Info. "We do think that the drawing was the main trigger that drew police attention to the father, and because of that, they looked at his social media," Maria Kuznetsova, a spokesperson for OVD-Info, told The Guardian.

"It’s important to understand that the Moskalyov case is a part of a larger horrifying trend—as a part of a wider wartime crackdown, the regime is routinely persecuting anti-war minors and their families, while squeezing the Russian youth into a heavily militarised culture," Kuznetsova said.

"According to our data, at least 544 minors were detained in anti-war protests in the past year, and seven minors are currently being criminally prosecuted for their anti-war positions. At least 19 anti-war teachers were fired... In particular, minors are targeted for sharing posts or comments about anti-war rallies, leaflets against mobilisation, holding solo demonstrations, expressing anti-war views during school events, demonstrating anti-war clothing, and making anti-war inscriptions," he added.

Image: AP