Single father Alexey Moskalev, whose daughter’s anti-war drawing drew the wrath of Russian law enforcement, is apprehended in Minsk

Police in Minsk have reportedly apprehended Alexey Moskalev, the single father from Russia’s Tula region who fled house arrest on March 28, hours before a court sentenced him to two years in prison for repeatedly “discrediting” Russia’s military in posts on social media. Russian officials charged Moskalev after months of harassment that began when his then 12-year-old daughter Masha (now 13) submitted an anti-war drawing to her art class. On March 1, police arrested Alexey and transferred Masha to state custody.

Moskalev’s defense attorney, Dmitry Zakhvatov, wrote on Telegram after reports of his client’s arrest in Minsk that he was unable to reach Alexey but suspected that the news is true. Journalists at SOTA Project reported that Belarusian police likely managed to locate Moskalev by tracking his mobile phone to the apartment where he was hiding.