Their story had gone around the world. In April 2022, Macha, 13, made an “anti-war” drawing at school. His father, Alexei Moskalev, subsequently lost custody and was accused of “discredited” the Russian army in Ukraine and was sentenced to two years in prison. Tuesday, October 15, their moving reunion took place in front of the penal colony of Novomoskovsk, a small town in the Tula region, after the father had served his sentence.
Only his lawyer, Vladimir Bilienko, and a few representatives of independent media and NGOs who supported Alexeï Moskalev’s fight to find his daughter, were present. “Finally some good news! ”, opposition political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann rejoiced on social networks since her exile before specifying that“having served his sentence” does not necessarily mean being off the hook in Russia.
In his first statements to the Telegram channel of the Russian detainee defense NGO OVD-Info, Alexeï Moskalev confirmed his fears by recounting that, shortly before his release, the men of the FSB, the internal security services, had questioned all his fellow prisoners looking for an excuse for him “stick another crime”.
