A member of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of Russia’s legislature, has denounced his own daughter as a "traitor" after she gave an interview in which she denounced Russia’s unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
"It is evident she received money from certain mass media -- in other words, she sold out her father, her family, her motherland," Federation Council member Eduard Isakov, who represents the northern Khanty-Mansi autonomous region, wrote on Telegram on August 19 about his eldest daughter, Diana Isakova. "It is difficult to choose your words when your daughter turns out to be a traitor."
Earlier the same day, the 25-year-old Isakova told Meduza and the BBC that she had left Russia and intended to form a "new opposition" abroad to oppose the war. Isakova's parents have long been divorced, and she said she does not have "close relations" with her father.
"When the war began, I had a feeling of guilt," Isakova told Meduza. "Now I take responsibility for my decisions and my actions, and I am doing what I can to help people, the opposition, and the nations of Russia, and so on…. Guilt doesn't do anyone any good. I accept the past and do everything I can to make things better."
In his post on Telegram, Isakov noted that he "has not raised Diana since she was 3." He claimed she has mental health issues and that "it is difficult to communicate with her."
When he found out in April that she had participated in an anti-war demonstration in Sochi, he attempted to "explain the necessity" of the "special military operation" in Ukraine, using the Kremlin’s preferred euphemism for the war.
"I suggested that she visit places of military glory of the Soviet people and learn the history of her country," Isakov wrote. "I suggested she travel as a volunteer to the Donbas to help people who have lived in war conditions for eight years and to learn firsthand the reasons for the special military operation."
"Donbas" refers to the parts of eastern Ukraine where Moscow has fomented a separatist uprising since 2014, the same year Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region.
Since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February, the war has divided many Russian families, with some members supporting the Kremlin and others opposing the war.