Eight doctors and senior clinic officials have been detained in Russia after being accused of orchestrating a sinister scam which saw embryos arranged for birth – for the purpose of selling them abroad
A chilling baby-trafficking ring has been exposed in Russia, with eight doctors and senior clinic officials detained for allegedly selling newborns to foreign buyers in a scheme worth more than half a million pounds.
The scandal, centred in the Primorsky region, involves at least 13 babies being trafficked abroad – though prosecutors warn the real number could be far higher. Among those arrested are three chief physicians, accused of orchestrating a sinister operation which saw infants sold for profit under the guise of infertility treatments. According to explosive evidence presented by state prosecutors, the group raked in approximately £510,000 through the illegal trade.
“A group of doctors illegally issued medical documentation containing knowingly false information about the infertility of buyers and genetic parents,” read a damning official statement.
“Using assisted reproductive technologies under the guise of infertility treatment, the defendants carried out actions to cultivate embryos and arrange the subsequent birth of children for the purpose of their sale and movement abroad.”
The IVF baby scandal centres on private clinics in Vladivostok. The country or countries where the babies were sold has not been disclosed, nor were details given about alleged surrogate mothers.
The scam involved six women and two men – doctors, chief physicians, and the owner of a chain of private clinics, according to reports. In total, at least 13 children were sent abroad, flouting Russian laws. The sales happened between 2018 and 2020 but have only come to light now.
It is as yet unclear if Russia will seek to repatriate the illegally sold children – now aged between around five and seven. The defendants have not been named.
They face up to 15 years in jail for alleged child trafficking, according to prosecutors, with the case due to be heard by the Frunzensky District Court of Vladivostok.
It comes just weeks after a Russian psychiatrist was caught running a “torture conveyor belt” at a prison hospital, where more than 20 patients died. Dr Anastasia Potorochina is now hoping to avoid jail by being sent to Vladimir Putin’s war as a medic.
The 32-year-old illegally tied inmates to their beds for weeks or months, and injected them with mind-altering “psychotropic drugs”. A total of 21 patients died on her “torture conveyor belt” at notorious Interregional Tuberculosis Hospital No. 19, part of Putin’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN).
Some 43 prisoners were tortured, according to the closed-doors court case where she was convicted and sentenced to five years behind bars.
One orderly, Artem Pechersky, accused her of being a “sadist”. He said: “She liked that patients could be tied up for a long time. She would say: ‘That’s what they deserve’, ‘Let them lie there’. She made mean jokes. She believed that they deserved to be tied up”.