The head of the Russian group of mercenaries Wagner has once again criticized the official positions of the Kremlin by defending Alexéi Moskaliov, father of the girl who made a drawing against the war, which led him to be sentenced to two years in prison, although it was finds whereabouts unknown.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s owner, called the verdict against Moskaliov “unfair, especially in view of the fact that his daughter Masha will be forced to grow up in an orphanage.” Prigozhin asked the prosecutor to review the verdict and also to allow Wagner’s lawyers to work with Moskalyov’s defense.
Moskaliov’s lawyer, Vladimir Biliyenko, told Reuters he agreed with Prigozhin’s words and was willing to “accept any help that helps my client.” Biliyenko also hinted that he was not very clear why the Wagner founder had made these statements and that he was not sure of Prigozhin’s motives.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov on Wednesday refused to comment on Prigozhin’s statements but hinted that Moskaliov is a bad father by calling the case a “very deplorable situation regarding the performance of parental duties.”
Moskaliov, a 53-year-old estranged father who lived with his daughter in Yefremov, 200 miles south of Moscow, came to the attention of authorities last April after Masha, then 12, drew a picture at school that it showed Russian missiles falling on a Ukrainian mother and child. The teacher notified the principal and she notified the police, that she began to examine Moskaliov’s internet activity and fined him for making critical comments against the Russian army. Last December, he was investigated for a second time on suspicion of discrediting the armed forces.
Moskaliov was serving preventive house arrest but on Tuesday he disappeared shortly before the sentence against him was handed down. Meanwhile, the girl, who is now 13 years old, is still in the juvenile center where she was taken after custody of her father was provisionally withdrawn.
A human rights lawyer released a letter from Masha addressed to her father. “Hello Dad, I really ask you not to get sick and not to worry. Everything is fine with me, I love you very much and I know that you are not guilty of anything. I am always on your side, and you are right in everything you do” , wrote the girl. The letter ended with the words “I love you” and “you are a hero” in English, inside a drawing of a heart.
