Belarus detains Russian dad convicted in antiwar art case

By DASHA LITVINOVA
Associated Press

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Authorities in Belarus say they have detained a fugitive single father who escaped house arrest in Russia shortly before he was convicted of discrediting the army and sentenced to prison following his daughter’s antiwar sketch at school. Alexei Moskalyov was taken into custody in the Minsk region of neighboring Belarus, according to Natalya Sakharchuk, a spokeswoman for the country’s Interior Ministry. Her comments were reported Thursday by Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti and the Sputnik Belarus news site, saying he was being held “upon request of the Russian police.” Moskalyov, 54, drew international attention this week in a case that underscored the scale of the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent when he was sentenced to two years in prison.