A Russian teenager was forced to flee her country after drawing an anti-war picture at school in 2022. Now 16, Masha Moskalyova is living in hiding in France with her father, who was sentenced to two years in prison over the incident, while she was sent to an orphanage following his arrest.
According to a report by CNN, Masha drew the picture just weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. She was just 12 years old at the time. Her teacher had asked the class to draw pictures supporting Russian troops. Most of the children drew tanks or the letter Z, used by Russia as a pro-war symbol. However, Masha chose to depict a mother protecting her child from bombs launched by Russia. The drawing, made with coloured pencils, featured a Ukrainian flag bearing the words “Glory to Ukraine” and a Russian flag with the message “No Putin, no war.”
“Even though it’s a child’s drawing and seems so simple, who could have expected it to have such consequences?” Masha said while revisiting the picture.
{{/usCountry}}“Even though it’s a child’s drawing and seems so simple, who could have expected it to have such consequences?” Masha said while revisiting the picture.
{{/usCountry}}How an anti-war drawing changed Masha’s life
Masha said the drawing eventually reached the police after a classmate saw it. She believes the classmate may have reported it, setting off a series of events that changed her and her father’s lives.
“I drew the situation as I actually saw it, what I believed to be the truth,” she told CNN.
“After the lesson, one of my classmates, who had seen the drawing, came up to me. Perhaps she was the one who reported it, leading to everything that followed. In any case, the drawing ended up in the hands of the police. And that was when all our problems began,” she added.
Shortly afterwards, her father, Alexey Moskalyov, was charged with “discrediting the Russian military” and sentenced to two years in a penal colony. Masha, whom he had been raising alone, was sent to an orphanage.
After Alexey’s release, the father and daughter fled Russia, travelling through Armenia before reaching France earlier this year. They have since been granted temporary visas and are living in a small village in eastern France.
Father and daughter rebuild their lives in France
The two are now attempting to rebuild their lives, but their future remains uncertain. Alexey’s health has suffered following his time in prison, while Masha is attending school in a language she does not speak. Both continue to fear for their safety.
Surprisingly, one of the few possessions they have retained from their former life in Russia is Masha’s drawing. She reportedly found it by chance among her childhood notebooks while preparing to leave their home. The picture had not been confiscated by the authorities.
“It hadn’t been confiscated. They hadn’t found it or paid any attention to it. Perhaps because the police hadn’t thought to search through a child’s belongings,” Masha said.
Despite losing their home and much of their former life, Alexey said he remained proud of his daughter and believed their ability to speak freely made up for what they had left behind.
“Everything I’ve lost, everything I had in Russia, is compensated for by the fact that we can now speak freely and tell the truth. By the fact that we are now in a country where people are not persecuted for their words or their opinions,” he told CNN.
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Masha, on the other hand, continues to express her views publicly. She uses YouTube and social media to reach audiences in Russia and elsewhere, with her criticism extending beyond the war in Ukraine. She also criticised US President Donald Trump over his handshake with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Returning to Russia remains a distant prospect for Masha, who said she would be happy to go home but did not know when the country’s political system might change.
“I would return to Russia with enormous joy,” she said. “But when will this regime change? I don’t know. How many decades will it take? How many decades before Russia becomes a democratic and free country?”
Masha believes that widespread opposition to the authorities could eventually bring change. “Here was a child who spoke the truth, who wasn’t afraid. And if that child isn’t alone, if there are many children like her, if it’s not just one teenager but a thousand teenagers, not just one adult but a million, then that is what will change Russia for the better,” she said.