A 13-year-old girl in Russia was forcefully separated from her father and sent to an orphanage after drawing an anti-war picture in school at the beginning of March, according to a Daily Mail report.
The girl, whose name is Masha Moskaleva, drew a woman shielding her daughter from Russian bombs and dressed in yellow and blue. Behind the two is a Ukrainian flag with the words "glory to Ukraine" written in it, and elsewhere in the photo, Moskaleva wrote, "no to war."
One of Moskaleva's teachers saw the drawing and reported her to the authorities, according to the report. The Federal Security Service (FSB) showed up, and when Moskaleva saw them, she reportedly gave them a false name and ran home.
"She was scared, and I promised that I would come to her school and wait for her until classes were over," her father Alexei told the Daily Mail.
However, the FSB discovered who Masha was and "violently" interrogated her father before sending her to an orphanage.
What happened to Alexei and Masha?
Alyona Agafonova, who has been trying to help the Moskalevas, told the Daily Mail that Alexei is now under house arrest and faces a prison sentence. The charges are reportedly making anti-war statements.
"No one knows what happened to the girl," she told the publication. "She was last seen on March 1."
Moskaleva's lawyer Vladimir Bilienko told The Guardian that Masha will remain in state custody until her father's fate is determined.
"That would be a blow to a girl who has lived with her father her whole life,” he said. “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.”
"For three and a half hours they told me that I was raising a child incorrectly."
Alexei Moskaleva
“For three and a half hours they told me that I was raising a child incorrectly," said Alexei in an interview with Russian human rights organization OVD-Info. "They said they would take her away from me, and they would put me in jail.”
Approximately 544 children have been detained in some form or other for making anti-war or pro-Ukrainian statements since Russia invaded Ukraine.