The Moskalevs’ story

The Moskalevs are from Yefremov, a small town in Russia. Alexei Moskalev, Masha’s dad, is a single father. He owns a business selling pet birds. Both him and his daughter oppose the invasion of Ukraine. In April last year, their quiet life changed in an instant. Masha drew the fateful drawing in her school’s art class. Immediately, the teacher called the police on Masha. Since then, the family’s life has been turned into hell by the authorities.

For months, the regime’s forces harassed the family. A week before New Year’s Eve, Alexei got a call from the authorities. «We got a New Year’s gift for Masha», a man on the phone said. On the morning of 30th of December at 6 AM, law enforcement barged into the family’s apartment, crushing everything in their wake, and stealing the family’s cash savings and other valuables.

They opened a criminal case against Alexei and tortured him during an investigation, hitting his head against the walls and the floor.

Masha and Alexei moved to another city after that but the regime tracked them down. They put Alexei under house arrest. Masha was put into an orphanage where she is kept incommunicado.

On March 28 he was sentenced to two years in prison. Alexei escaped the day before. Two days later he was detained in Minsk, Belarus. Masha was in a state-run «rehabilitation centre» at that time. Now she will be turned over to social services. You can read more about the case here.

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Background

This case is part of a larger horrifying trend. As a part of a wider wartime crackdown the regime routinely persecutes anti-war minors and their families, while squeezing Russian youth into a heavily militarized culture. We have covered such cases before. Last year, 10-year-old Varya was also pulled from school and interrogated for a pro-Ukrainian profile picture on her social media and making anti-war statements in a school chat. A third-grader from Zvenigorod was called to the police for writing the slogan «Glory to Ukraine» in a school chat. In Moscow, a minor expressed his position on the war with Ukraine to a teacher. Later, he was approached by police officers who came to his house and turned off his electricity. In Yekaterinburg, a fifth-grader was publicly scolded for writing in a letter to a soldier asking him not to kill people and to come home. Two high-school students of the HSE Lyceum in Moscow were harassed by the public for playing the Ukrainian anthem and refusing to stand during the Russian national anthem at the school’s propaganda lesson. A 16-year-old while talking in school corridors said that if he was conscripted, he would fight on Ukraine’s side — he was fined.

According to our data, at least 544 minors were detained in anti-war protests in the past year. Seven minors are currently being criminally prosecuted for their anti-war positions. At least 19 anti-war teachers were fired. Many minors have been fined under the administrative «discreditation» provision. In particular, minors are targeted for sharing posts or comments about anti-war rallies, spreading leaflets against mobilization and the war, holding solo demonstrations, expressing anti-war views during school events, demonstrating anti-war peace of clothing, and making anti-war inscriptions. There are also minors persecuted under criminal code for direct action activism. On November 28th, 2022, 15 and 16-year-olds were sentenced to a year and a half of suspended sentence with a two-year probationary period for allegedly planning to burn down a military recruitment office. Three 14-year-olds were detained because they, allegedly, damaged the railway tracks in the Moscow region.

While participation in «non-approved» protests is dangerous for everyone, Russian minors are more vulnerable to pressure than others because of their dependence on the education system and their families.

The Russian law system marginalizes those minors who want to take part in rallies by criminalizing some forms of political interactions between opposition activists and underage people.

The Kremlin also makes attempts to prevent young people from participating in peaceful protests through the media, extrajudicial pressure and propaganda. State propaganda condemns any «involvement» of minors in «unauthorized» protests.

In Russia, there are no policies in place to prevent officials from pressuring minors who participated in unauthorized protests. Minors also have no effective legal mechanism for self-representation in court. That hinders the child’s access to justice.

Through attacks on schools, children and parents, the Kremlin aims to obliterate and terrify Russian civil society. Despite that, Russian activists, including children and parents, continue to stand up against the war. You can read more on the resistance and repressions in Russia in our annual wartime repressions report (Twitter breakdowns 1, 2 and 3 and full report).

Attention to this case is extremely important. A child has been stolen from her father. Global attention and pressure could help reunite the family.