Shortly after the Russian army was deployed to Ukraine last month, Shcherbak wrote in a post on Instagram, that he felt “scared, hurt and ashamed” of the Russian offensive in an open letter to his many friends in Ukraine. His statement deeply damaged his relationship with his mother, who, after seeing the post, called him “a traitor” and cut all ties with him.

Marina, Scherbak says, is convinced that her son is a supporter of what she refers to as the “fascist powers” in Ukraine.

“My mother wrote to me that ‘there would be no traitors in her family,’ that she does not want to have anything to do with ‘a russophobe’ like me and that our life paths now led in different directions,” Shcherbak told The Daily Beast in a phone interview from Germany. He left Moscow in late February for a work trip, but has plans to eventually return to Russia. “I have no doubts that my mother loves me and that she wants to save me, to protect me. But she is convinced that somebody has brainwashed me.”