Daniel Cooney

In April 2022, a 12-year-old Russian girl named Masha Moskalyova was told in art class to draw a picture supporting russian troops in Ukraine. Instead, she drew a Ukrainian mother protecting her child as russian missiles flew toward them. On the Ukrainian flag she wrote, “Glory to Ukraine.” On the russian flag: “No to war. No to Putin.” Her school reported her to the authorities. Police began investigating her father, Alexei Moskalyov, a single father who had raised Masha largely on his own. They searched his social media and discovered posts criticizing russia’s invasion and documenting russian atrocities in Bucha. In December 2022, around a dozen russian security officers raided their home. They ransacked it, seized their computers, phones, and savings. Alexei later said that during interrogations, officers beat him and slammed his head against the wall and floor. They blasted the russian national anthem at full volume while questioning him. Eventually, the regime charged him with repeatedly “discrediting” the russian military because of his anti-war social-media posts. Masha was taken away from him and placed in a state “social rehabilitation” center. Alexei was sentenced to two years in a penal colony. He later described horrific conditions there: a tiny punishment cell roughly two meters long, freezing temperatures, rats crawling out of the sewer, and days when he was forced to stand for as long as 16 hours because the bunk was locked against the wall. Meanwhile, his daughter wrote to him. “Dad, don’t give up.” “You are my hero.” They were separated for more than a year and a half. On October 15, 2024, Alexei finally walked out of prison. Masha was waiting for him. Five days later, they fled russia. They first escaped to Armenia and applied for a German humanitarian visa. After waiting for more than a year, their case stalled when Germany suspended the relevant humanitarian admission program. Then France stepped in. In March 2026, Masha and Alexei received French humanitarian visas and flew to Paris. And on July 17, 2026, France granted them political asylum. Today, Masha is drawing again and hopes to pursue art. She also writes and has spoken out in support of russian political prisoners. When asked whether, knowing everything that happened afterward, she would still have made that drawing, Masha said she would. “One only lives once.” One drawing. A child saying no to war. And for that, the russian state destroyed their home, separated a father from his daughter, imprisoned him, and drove them both into exile. This is what dictatorship looks like. Sources: Le Monde, Reuters, Euronews, Meduza, DW