The Russian Federation has left an official diplomatic note with the Finnish authorities in the wake of the bringing back to Finland of 5-year-old Anton Salonen.
The note was handed in to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Wednesday afternoon by Minister-Counsellor Sergei Beljayev. Simo Pietiläinen, employed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs at the Finnish Consulate-General in St. Petersburg, brought Anton and his father Paavo Salonen to Finland in secret in a car with Russian diplomatic plates some two weeks ago.
In the background to the incident was a long-running custody dispute over the child, whose mother is Russian.
The Russian Federation would now like clarification of whether the consular official was carrying out his official duties when assisting the flight of Anton to Finland.
Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (National Coalition Party) took the news of the note calmly.
“We shall respond in due course and in the proper fashion, as is the custom with normal diplomatic relations”, Stubb told Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday.
He stressed that the Ministry for Foreign Affairs had had no part in the smuggling of Anton Salonen to Finland.
“From a humanitarian perspective the situation was extremely difficult for both the boy and his father, so from this point of view I can understand his [Pietiläinen’s] actions. I also understand why the Russian Federation authorities have reacted as they have. We should go through this normal state-to state discussion quite calmly and peacefully”, commented Stubb.
Simo Pietiläinen is currently working in Helsinki.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has not instigated disciplinary proceedings against him.
Foreign Minister Stubb hopes that the Russian Federation would sign up to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
This would in his view give a concrete judicial framework for resolving thorny situations such as this.
