Masha Moskaleva’s estranged mother plans to collect her daughter from state custody

Olga Sitchikhina, Masha Moskaleva’s daughter, plans to remove her daughter from the juvenile shelter where child welfare authorities sent her after her father, Alexey Moskalev, was accused of repeatedly “discrediting” the army. On March 28, Moskalev was sentenced to two years in prison.

Olga Sitchikina reportedly lives with her husband and 17-year-old daughter in the Tambov region and works as a security guard in Moscow.

Sitchikhina told publication 7×7 that she’s planning to collect her daughter from the shelter when she gets back from her shift in Moscow. The authorities who oversee legal guardianship and Tambov officials have already examined Sitchikhina’s house. Sitchikhina says the authorities and the shelter director approved of her home. She’s planning to stop taking shift work, to take care of her home and family.

Sitchikhina says Masha had refused to stay with her earlier, even when Alexey Moskalev was under house arrest, but now wants her mother to come get her from the shelter. According to Sitchikhina, Moskalev “kicked her out of the apartment and forbade her to communicate with her daughter,” but she says that she and her daughter still called each other and corresponded on VKontakte. The last time that Sitchikhina saw Masha she was “probably in second grade.” She’s now in sixth grade.

Sitchikhina claims that she won’t prevent her daughter from seeing Moskalev, even if he is sent to prison, and that she won’t mind if Masha wants to live with her father again after his release. However, Masha’s mother says she doesn’t understand “what Moskalev taught her,” and that she’s personally not interested in politics. She hopes to get her daughter off “politics, antipropaganda, and drawings.”