The story of Algirdas Švanys, who abducted his baby and fled to Russia, has been exploited by Russian propaganda, which portrayed him as a hero and defender of family rights.
The 37-year-old Švanys, who does not have the custody of his daughter, took the child, born in 2022, from her mother on Sunday. He then crossed the Skirvytė River, which marks the border between Lithuania and Kaliningrad and was detained by Russian border guards.
On Tuesday, the National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) said the man was released. The Russian border guards said Švanys had Russian citizenship, so there were no grounds to return him to Lithuania.
“As far as we know, he has a dwelling of his own [in Kaliningrad] and is together with his daughter, whom he is taking care of,” NKVC head Vilmantas Vitkauskas told reporters.
According to Lithuanian institutions, Švanys had been preparing for the abduction of his daughter and fleeing to Russia in advance, as he travelled to Kaliningrad many times before.
Portrayed as hero
Švanys has not yet made contact with local Lithuanians, according to Sigitas Šamborskis, chair of the Lithuanian community in Kaliningrad.
“He must have left the border area because there are many Lithuanians here and word has spread in the area. He might be deeper in Kaliningrad, where it is easier for him to hide,” Šamborskis told LRT.lt.
According to him, the fact that Švanys allegedly has Russian citizenship is not surprising, as the procedure for acquiring one has recently been simplified.
“The Russian citizenship law is now simplified so that one can apply for citizenship if one’s parents or grandparents were citizens of the USSR, which is the case for all older Lithuanians,” Šamborskis said.
The Russian media has also jumped to the opportunity to exploit Švanys’ story for propaganda purposes.
“This guy is portrayed as a defender of family rights. [...] And it is said how humane Russia is that such a man, a fighter, had to go to Russia with such a small baby. He is portrayed as a hero. The special services in Russia are exploiting this. But is difficult to say how long he will be useful to them – I think not for very long,” Šamborskis said.
Making every effort
On Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said that Lithuanian diplomats are seeking access to a baby girl, who was taken to Kaliningrad by her father.
The child’s mother is also trying to contact Švanys and is planning to travel to Russia. Lithuania’s Consulate General in Kaliningrad is providing her with consular assistance.
The chair of the Lithuanian community in Kaliningrad, Šamborskis, believes that the child will be returned to the mother because the mutual legal assistance treaty between Lithuania and Russia is still in force.
According to lawyer Rytis Satkauskas, it is irrelevant whether the father who abducted the daughter had one or two citizenships.
“The custody was granted to the mother, the child was taken without authorisation and must be returned,” he said.
The lawyer pointed out that Russia is bound by the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, and the authorities are obliged to cooperate to ensure the return of the child.
“A parent who abducts a child violates the child's rights, and the state on whose territory the child is located must take measures to return the child to the custodial parent,” Satkauskas said, adding that the process of returning the baby to Lithuanian will probably be long.
According to Ilma Skuodienė, the head of the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service, this is not the first case of parents taking their children to Russia. However, this case is exceptional because Švanys crossed the border illegally.
“Usually there are 1-2 cases a year when children are taken to the Russian Federation. [...] The situation is currently tense due to the geopolitical situation, cooperation may take time, but every effort will be made to return the child,” she told LRT TV.
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