Mother's legal representative, speaking of the nanny's lawsuit against her son: "Upon his return, the child had a similar appearance to Mowgli from 'The Jungle Book'."

A Prolonged Custody Battle Over a Twin Boy Raised by a Nanny

The bitter dispute in Moscow over an 11-year-old boy, who was under the care of a nanny for seven crucial years of his life, remains unresolved. Grisha, the boy in question along with his twin sister, was born in 2013. Initially, Elena Zagonya, the biological mother, took her daughter home, but she enlisted Tatiana Kalentyeva, a nanny from Tatarstan, to look after Grisha. The three lived under the same roof in one of Zagonya's apartments.

Grisha was only a year old when he was asked to move to Naberezhnye Chelny with Kalentyeva. Zagonya supposedly had no interest in him thereafter, claims Kalentyeva. In 2020, however, Zagonya brought Grisha back to Moscow, and a year later, she enrolled him in a private school. According to Kalentyeva, the boy only gets to visit home during holidays.

"He used to call me mom, and Elena doesn't seem to have any need for the boy. She has openly admitted that she only wanted a daughter and was given twins. Why is she putting Grisha through all of this?" - expresses Kalentyeva.

Seeking to revoke Zagonya's parental rights, Kalentyeva was initially denied by the court. Instead, she filed a lawsuit to at least be granted visits with the boy on occasion...

Investigating the Unusual Origin of the Twins

Elena Zagonya has evaded the media for years, but a "KP" correspondent managed to get in touch with her lawyer, Alexei Sklyarov. Sklyarov shed light on some aspects of this curious story.

One of the primary questions surrounding the birth of the twins is their origin. According to Kalentyeva, Zagonya mentioned a surrogate mother at first, then claimed she spent a few days in the hospital and was given the children there. Kalentyeva alleges having seen hospital documents with the relevant number.

Tatarstan's Children's Ombudsman, Irina Volynets, has raised concerns about the authenticity of the twins, suggesting that both children might not belong to Zagonya.

Alexei Sklyarov contests this hypothesis: "The children were conceived via surrogacy. This is a fact. Elena has a contract with a woman who carried and gave birth to her children."

The Alcoholic Father and the Unheard Mother

Why was Grisha placed under a nanny's care for several years and in a different region, more than a thousand kilometers from Moscow?

Alexei Sklyarov explains, "Elena was dealing with an overwhelming emotional burden - her father was an alcoholic, ill, and she tried to nurse him for years." He speculates that perhaps Elena believed her daughter would be better off with her mother, while her son was more independent and could be entrusted to a nanny.

Did the mother ever visit Grisha while he was in Naberezhnye Chelny?

Sklyarov admits that Kalentyeva occasionally brought Grisha to Moscow, but the boy primarily lived in one of two apartments owned by Zagonya.

And where did Grisha reside during the periods when Kalentyeva brought him to Moscow?

Grisha lived with Kalentyeva and stayed in one of the apartments. This arrangement lasted until 2017, after which Kalentyeva stopped visiting. Nevertheless, Elena kept in touch with them via video calls, SMS, and messaging applications.

Undisclosed Bank Statements and Ongoing Disputes

Tatiana has accused Elena of failing to pay her for several years and raising Grisha on her own funds.

Sklyarov disputes this assertion, stating that Elena sent in approximately 40,000 rubles every month, as can be seen in bank statements.

Why were these bank statements never produced in court?

Sklyarov explains that Elena is reluctant to generate any further controversies. He suggested that she publicly acknowledge her mistakes as a mother and discard the issue, but Zagonya categorically refused.

A "Corrected" Child and an Unrecognizable Sister

According to Sklyarov, the reason Grisha was admitted to a private school and lives in a boarding house is due to requiring some correction, particularly in his speech. When the child was interviewed by specialists from the guardianship authorities in October 2024, they recommended increasing home visits. Issues, if any, should be addressed within the family, where the child feels loved and cared for, presumably aiding the adaptation process.

Curiously, Zagonya's sister has never met her brother. The official document from the guardianship authorities from 2020 states, "The sister does not know her brother, and there are no records of the son in the mother's passport." Nevertheless, Sklyarov asserts that the mother considers her son to be her child.

Elena has remained elusive in the media throughout this entire ordeal. According to Sklyarov, Zagonya is "an absolutely responsible woman, genuinely concerned about her son's condition." Despite her wealth and stable income, she has chosen to stay out of the public eye. He adds, "Kalentyeva is a stranger to the boy, so it seems inappropriate for her to interact with him."

Despite living in different apartments for several years, Tatiana Kalentyeva claims that Grisha continued to call Elena Zagonya 'mom', implying a connection between the two.
In a curious twist, Irina Volynets, Tatarstan's Children's Ombudsman, has voiced concerns about the authenticity of the twins, suggesting they might not be biologically connected to Zagonya, raising questions about their origin.
Evading the media on the issue, Alexei Sklyarov, Elena Zagonya's lawyer, has provided insights that offer explanations for the unusual circumstances surrounding Grisha's upbringing, including a troubled past with an alcoholic father that may have led to Grisha's extended stay with a nanny.
The legal battle over Grisha's custody continues to unfold in Moscow's courts, with Kalentyeva seeking more visits and Zagonya seeking to maintain her parental rights, creating headlines in the general-news, politics, crime-and-justice, and local twins sections of various media outlets.