Siberian Girl Detained at Domodedovo; Family Fears Sex Trafficking

Human rights activists and Telegram channels reported the abduction of an 18-year-old girl by her own father from Moscow«s Domodedovo Airport. Varvara (name changed – Ed.) was trying to fly to Egypt. MSK1.RU was informed of this by human rights activists.

The girl«s mother is convinced that she was recruited and her departure coordinated through online chats. According to her, the father was saving his daughter from fraudsters. We delve into the tangled story.

What is known about Varya and the guy she was going to

Varvara (name changed – Ed.) is from Minusinsk in Krasnoyarsk Krai. She turned 18 on 6 December. Her parents are divorced; her father lives in Sochi with a new family. Since high school, Varya had been dating a classmate; her parents knew him and were aware of their relationship.

Six months ago, when the guy turned 18, he left home and told his relatives he now lives in Latin America. The young man keeps in touch with his mother; his social media has photos from Serbia posted in August. In a conversation with MSK1.RU, he stated that he traveled the world and is currently staying in one of the South American countries.

After his departure, Varvara continued communicating with the guy on social media. The young man sent MSK1.RU photos of their chats. According to him, Varya planned to fly to him and had been saving money for the flight for several months. She did not share her plans with her parents. However, the tickets, which the family later found out about, were bought from Domodedovo to Hurghada (Egypt).

The young man involved lawyers in the story. According to the attorneys, shortly before the incident at Domodedovo, they contacted Varvara herself, and in the conversation, she asked for help.

«Her father learned from her mother that she was planning to fly to her boyfriend, whom she has been dating for three years, in Latin America,» lawyer Leysan Mannapova explained to MSK1.RU. «She had been saving for tickets for six months, working, and he apparently caught her right at the airport. First, he shoved her into the trunk of a Gazelle van, took her away, then she escaped.»

How the girl escaped

The MSK1.RU editorial team contacted Varya«s mother, her father, and her cousin. The family is sure that the girl was under the influence of fraudsters or manipulations by her boyfriend. According to her mom, after the young man»s departure, she became withdrawn and aggressive, started snapping back and allegedly stole money.

«He [the boyfriend] started »grooming« her. For her 18th birthday, she asked everyone to give money as gifts,» Varvara«s mother Irina told MSK1.RU. »Then she waited for her father to come and give her money. A couple of days after her father left, suddenly her mom calls.«

According to Irina, the girl took 200,000 rubles (approx. $2,200 at current rates) with her. The mother immediately went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) department; police found out that tickets to Moscow had been bought in her name.

According to Irina«s account, she managed to arrive before the flight and tried to stop her daughter, but Varvara did not want to go home. Then the woman involved her ex-husband, who flew from Sochi to meet their daughter at Domodedovo.

According to human rights activists, at the airport, the father gave her a choice: either jail or she leaves with him—since the police had a report about stolen money.

«Under pressure, she wrote an explanatory note and left with her father. They went to a hotel, where Varya locked herself in the bathroom and called the police. They were taken to the station. According to the young man, at the station, the father beat her in front of the police. The girl left the station with her father,» the «Marem» rights center informed MSK1.RU.

According to the mother, there was no beating at the police station and could not have been. She claims that the officers also noticed her daughter«s strange behavior and therefore accommodated them.

Two more escape attempts

According to the lawyer, the night of 25-26 December, Varvara spent in the back of a car without warm clothing. After that, she tried to escape from her father twice—this happened in Mytishchi. Traffic police (GIBDD) officers picked up the girl on the road and contacted her father. He arrived and said that fraudsters were trying to deceive his daughter, after which the girl was released with her dad.

«The police responded that they would not do anything. We, as lawyers, cannot influence this without law enforcement. She was released against her will with her father, although she is an adult, without checking the person»s safety. We tried to follow the geolocation; they stopped at some private house,« lawyer Leysan Mannapova told MSK1.RU.

According to the parents« version, the girl was manipulated either by the boyfriend himself, who was promised money for selling Varya, or by fraudsters. Three days before the escape, the mother asserts, she was told to rent a short-term apartment near the house to move things there.

The police told the parents that the young man«s phone number is registered in Serbia. Moreover, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has no data on his exit abroad. The guy himself (he sent the editorial office a video with his face and passport) told MSK1.RU that he was indeed in Serbia in the summer and stated that the exit stamp from Russia was mistakenly not placed on him.

«She recorded a video for the first time with tears and the words: »They beat me, please help me.« Her mother, who forgot about her own birthday, accuses me of blackmail and extortion. She is being persuaded that I am an AI neural network and not who I claim to be, that I actually study in Novosibirsk,» Artur (name changed – Ed.) told MSK1.RU.

In the screenshots that Varya«s boyfriend sent to the MSK1.RU editorial office, messages such as »they think they saved me,« »they will keep me at home all my life« are visible.

On the evening of 26 December, lawyers filed a missing persons and abduction report at the Mytishchi police department. It was recorded in the Crime Report Log (a photo of the receipt is available to MSK1.RU).

Where is the girl now

According to geolocation data sent to the editorial office by the young man, the girl«s phone last made contact in the area of the village of Fedorovka in Khimki. Irina claims that she is now in touch with Varya through her ex-husband»s phone.

«She calls me every day from her father»s phone. She has free access to it. However, her mood changes daily: from «I miss you, I want to come home to you soon» to «You ruined my life, I want to be independent.» That is, she is really unstable. She is completely brainwashed,« her mother told us.

The young man told MSK1.RU that Varya wanted to visit, get a feel for a new country and culture, but «received a terrible trauma.»

According to the mother, the family plans to find a good psychologist for their daughter; in the near future and for New Year, the girl will stay with her father.

The MSK1.RU editorial office was unable to promptly obtain confirmation of any data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In autumn, a Moscow woman with her 10-year-old son went missing in Istanbul. Later they were found on the border with Syria and returned to Russia.