Four children’s doctors in Russia have been arrested and sent to prison after the stole and sold babies in a trafficking ring.
The criminals worked in a fertility clinic and conspired during their shifts to export surrogate babies to foreign parents. The clinic under investigation also provided evidence that they aided a close political ally of Vladimir Putin to have his won child.
The operation was a clinic-wide project, with several members having thought to be involved. All members received lengthy prison sentences, despite the thought that they might get lenience due to their favour to the politician.
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Vladislav Melnikov, 56, head of the European Surrogacy Centre in Moscow, was imprisoned for nineteen-and-a-half years on 17 counts of baby trafficking. Prominent gynaecologist Lilya Panaioti, 55, was also sent down for 16 years over the case which involved at least 11 children.
Leading Moscow embryologist Dr Taras Ashitkov, 53, was jailed for seventeen-and-a-half years, while his wife, reproductive endocrinologist Julianna Ivanova, will be locked away for sixteen-and-a-half years. Surrogate mothers Tatiana Blinova and Liliya Valeyeva were jailed for four years and ten-and-a-half years respectively.
However the owner of the surrogacy company has fled the country. Konstantin Svitnev left as soon as they investigation came to light and it now on Russia’s most wanted list. His associate Roman Yemashev, interpreter Kirill Anisimov and courier Valentina Chernsyshova received prison sentences of between five and six years after their involvement with him.
The investigation was launched after a dead baby with no documents was found in a Moscow flat used as a foster home to children born to surrogate mothers. Several cases of foreign parents looking for their babies have also come to light.
One case involved baby boy Zandro, living in an orphanage, who appeared on an adoption site in Russia. His biological parents are from the Philippines and they have three other children born via surrogacy in Russia. A message to Putin showed them holding pictures of Zandro begging for his release.
The medics all insist no crime has been committed and they are victims of miscarriages of justice, since surrogacy is legal in Russia, and offering surrogacy services to foreign parents – at the time – was permitted.
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