Masha Moskaleva, whose father was sentenced to two years in prison for "discrediting" the Russian army, will be handed over to a substitute family. According to RAPSI, this was stated during a briefing by the Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova*.
“I met with blood relatives, but so far relatives refuse to take Masha, perhaps due to the resonance of the situation and because they didn’t really communicate with the child. But we have several applicants for the position of a foster family, ”Lvova-Belova said, adding that Masha is already talking to one of these families.
The biological mother of the girl, Olga Sitchikhina, who promised to take her daughter from the orphanage, did not. According to Lvova-Belova, the woman never visited Masha and does not maintain contact with her. The official also stated that both of Masha's parents would be deprived of parental rights.
After the girl's father Alexei Moskalev was sentenced to two years in prison, Sitchikhina gave an interview in which she stated that she would not leave her daughter and would not allow strangers to raise her. Later, however, municipal deputy Olga Podolskaya from Efremov, Tula region, where the Moskalevs lived, said that Sitchikhina was offered to take her daughter when a criminal case was opened against the girl’s father, but she refused and wrote a statement asking to send Masha to an orphanage.
Aleksey Moskalev and his daughter, whom he raised alone, attracted the attention of the security forces after sixth-grader Masha drew an anti-war poster in April 2022 at an art lesson. In March 2023, Moskalev, who was accused of "discrediting" the army because of posts in Odnoklassniki, was placed under house arrest, and Masha was placed in an orphanage. On March 28, the court delivered a verdict, but Moskalev was not present at its announcement, since the day before he had escaped from house arrest. Two days later he was detained in Minsk.
* The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Lvova-Belova on charges of kidnapping Ukrainian children.