U.S. citizen suspected of attempt to illegally take 4-year-old son abroad - Russian Investigative Committee

KALININGRAD. Sept 7 (Interfax) - Investigators in Russia's Kaliningrad region are probing a criminal case against a U.S. citizen suspected of abducting an underage child, the press service for the regional branch of the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement.

According to investigators, on July 27 a 35-year-old American man arrived in the Kaliningrad region to see his four-year-old son, who is a Russian citizen.

The foreign citizen knew that a local district court is currently hearing a lawsuit regarding custody of the child, because the mother is strongly opposed to the child being taken abroad, the Investigative Committee said.

This is why the American father used the pretext of taking his child out for a walk to put the four-year-old in a car, drive him out of town and attempt to illegally cross the state border near Mamonovo in a woody and marshy area, the investigators said. The U.S. citizen was then apprehended by Russian border guards, they said.

A criminal case has now been opened against the American father on counts of attempting to abduct an underage child. He is also suspected of attempting to illegally cross the Russian state border.

The court has placed the man in custody as a measure of restraint.