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.
However, Masha chose to depict a mother protecting her child from bombs launched by Russia. She believes the classmate may have reported it, setting off a series of events that changed her and her father’s lives. Perhaps she was the one who reported it, leading to everything that followed.
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. “After the lesson, one of my classmates, who had seen the drawing, came up to me. In any case, the drawing ended up in the hands of the police. And that was when all our problems began,” she added. “It hadn’t been confiscated. They hadn’t found it or paid any attention to it. Masha believes that widespread opposition to the authorities could eventually bring change. “Here was a child who spoke the truth, who wasn’t afraid.
Masha drew the picture just weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, according to a report by CNN. She was just 12 years old at the time. Because the police hadn’t thought to search through a child’s belongings,” Masha said, perhaps.
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. Masha said the drawing eventually reached the police after a classmate saw it. 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.
