Finland replies to Russia’s diplomatic note over Anton custody dispute

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Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs has responded to the Russian Federation’s diplomatic note over the case of the five-year-old Finnish citizen, Anton Salonen, who according to the Finnish view was abducted unlawfully and taken to Russia by his Russian-born mother in the spring of last year.
     
According to the Foreign Ministry, the response states that the consular official who recently smuggled the child and his father in his car from Russia back to Finland had acted in accordance with his official duties by helping Finnish citizens in distress.
      However, his actions were not exemplary, the ministry notes.
     
”It is the consul’s duty to help Finnish citizens, and in that respect one can say that the official was performing his official duties. However, criticism can be expressed against the way he acted, while not reporting his plans to the ministry but making his decisions entirely independently”, reported Director General Lauri Aaltonen, Unit for Consular Services, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
      In its reply the Finnish Foreign Ministry stated further that it hopes that Russia would consider ratifying the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, as it would set the rules for similar cases in the future.
     
Russia sent Finland a note last week after Finnish Foreign Ministry official Simo Pietiläinen, working at the Finnish Consulate-General in St. Petersburg, drove the Finnish father and his son Anton across the border to Finland in a private car equipped with diplomatic licence plates.
      The incident took place at the beginning of May, following a drawn-out custody dispute.
      The details of the case are given in the linked articles below.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Child abduction case prompts ministerial-level altercation between Finland and Russia (18.5.2009)

See also:
  Something had to be done, says diplomat who brought abducted boy back to Finland (22.5.2009)

Links:
  Ministry for Foreign Affairs
  The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction

Helsingin Sanomat