Belarus Extradites Russian Man Convicted After His Daughter Drew Antiwar Picture, State Media Reports

Belarus has extradited Aleksei Moskalyov, the Russian father who lost custody of his daughter and fled the country after being prosecuted for online posts criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine, Russian state news media reported Thursday.

Mr Moskalyov, 54, a father of one, was placed under house arrest in early March and charged with “discrediting” the Russian Army over the war in Ukraine. The arrest came after his daughter, Maria, 13, drew an anti-war picture at school. Maria, known as Masha, has been placed in a state orphanage after her father was arrested and banned from communicating with her.

In late March, Mr. Moskalyov, an ornamental bird breeder, escaped house arrest, hours before a court in Yefremov, a town 150 miles south of Moscow, sentenced him to two years in prison. He was later arrested in Minsk, the capital of Russia’s ally Belarus, and held in a detention center in the town of Zhodino.

On Thursday, Russian state news agency Tass quoted Natalia Sakharchuk, a spokeswoman for the Belarusian interior ministry, as confirming that Mr. Moskalyov had been extradited to Russia. It is unclear whether Mr. Moskalyov will face additional punishment for escaping house arrest.

Mr. Moskalyov’s posts on Russian social networks Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte were discovered by authorities last April after Masha’s school art teacher tried to generate support among students for the Russian military. Masha’s contribution: a picture of mother and daughter holding the “Glory of Ukraine” flag and standing in the path of Russian rockets. “No War,” he wrote underneath.

The case attracted international attention, in part because of the custody of her daughter.

Russian authorities have not yet determined whether Mr Moskalyov’s custody of Masha should be limited. Last week’s hearing failed to resolve the situation. Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, said in a post last week on the Telegram messaging app that Masha’s mother, Olga Sitchikhina, had collected her from the orphanage. Ms Sitchikhina has not been involved in the children’s lives since the age of 3, according to Vladimir Biliyenko, Mr Moskalyov’s lawyer.