Photo: inTransit
Russian former political prisoner Alexey Moskalyov and his daughter Maria arrived in Paris on Wednesday evening after the pair were granted humanitarian visas and laissez-passer documents allowing them to enter France without passports, Novaya Europe has learnt.
Berlin-based human rights group InTransit helped request the documents from the French Foreign Ministry in late December, although the Moskalyovs had initially planned to obtain German visas.
The Moskalyov family’s persecution began in April 2022, when 13-year-old Maria drew an anti-war picture at school. Her father was subsequently charged with “discrediting” the Russian army, while Maria was sent to an orphanage and later to live with her mother.
On 28 March 2023, the day his verdict was due to be announced, Moskalyov fled his house arrest and attempted to go abroad, but was later detained in Belarus and extradited to Russia where he spent two years in prison.
After his release from prison in October 2024, Moskalyov was repeatedly harassed by the security services, with FSB officers coming to his home and his building being watched.
The Moskalyovs have been facing increasing persecution in Russia in recent months. In late December, the Russian authorities began searching for Maria, whose anti-war Telegram channel could have seen her prosecuted for “discrediting” the Russian army despite still being a minor. This ultimately prompted the pair to leave for Armenia.
They later sought help from InTransit to obtain humanitarian protection in Europe. However, the process was complicated by the gradual closure of schemes aimed at assisting war-critical Russians. Germany stopped considering such applications from May 2025, and its humanitarian visa programme has effectively been frozen since August.
“They have now reached Paris. We are very pleased,” an InTransit coordinator told Novaya Europe, thanking both the German and French Foreign Ministries for their efforts to support the Moskalyovs.
