PETROZAVODSK/MOSCOW, January 23 (RIA Novosti) – A recent incident in which the Finnish authorities reportedly took two children away from their Russian mother during a visit to Finland to see the father stirred an angry response from Russia over this, and dozens of other similar cases.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that it is currently investigating the incident involving the six-year-old twins, Artyom Karelin and his sister Sofia, who are Russian citizens. The children were in Finland, on a two-month tourist visa, visiting their father, and have reportedly been barred from meeting their mother Svetlana Karelina.
Russia’s children’s rights ombudsman wrote on his Twitter microblog that there have been over 50 instances in the past few years of the Finnish authorities intervening in disputes between Russian-Finnish families by taking children away from their Russian mothers.
“The situation is outrageous,” Astakhov said on Wednesday. He added that the incident with Karelina could be considered kidnapping, and asked the Russian Foreign Ministry to lodge an official protest with Finland over this case.
No further details on the Karelina case have been provided by the Finnish side.