“He has been detained, yes,” Zakhvatov said, without providing more details.

The Russian-language news outlet Sota reported earlier that Moskalyov, 54, had been arrested in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, a staunch Russian ally.

Moskalyov came to the attention of Russian police last year after his daughter Masha, then 12, drew an anti-war picture at school showing Russia firing missiles at a Ukrainian mother and child.

He was later charged with discrediting Russia’s armed forces in connection with separate anti-war comments he was alleged to have made on social media.

The case has resonated widely in Russia and abroad, particularly since Masha, now 13, was separated from her father and placed in a children’s home at the start of March.

Moskalyov fled house arrest in the early hours of Tuesday.

Later the same day, a court sentenced him in absentia to two years in a penal colony.