SOCHI, RUSSIA (BNO NEWS) – Finland refused on Friday to sign an agreement with Russia on family and civil cases, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s ombudsman for children’s rights announced the decision of the Finnish government. Finland enacted a law in 2008 that gave the authorities the right to remove children thought to be in danger from their homes avoiding legal proceedings.

As a consequence Finland has seen many high-profile incidents related to family issues since the fore mentioned law came into effect. In February, Robert Rantala, a seven-year old boy from a Russian-Finnish family was sent to an orphanage in Turku, Finland.

Rantala told his classmates that his mother slapped him and for that he might return to Russia. Soon after that, local authorities filed a lawsuit to deprive both his father and mother of their parental rights.

Another case arose when Finnish authorities refused to give a residency permit to an 82-year old woman. The elder Russian woman had lived for two years with her daughter, a Finnish citizen. Upon insistence of Finland, the woman, Irina Antonova was deported eventually.

“Finland has made a serious international legal mistake and that cases involving Russian children in Finnish-Russian families should be subject to the UN convention on human rights, as both Russia and Finland are signatories,” Astakhov said.

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