Doctors in Vladivostok trained surrogate mothers for foreigners

Doctors from Vladivostok, who were accused of child trafficking, trained surrogate mothers for foreigners. This was announced on May 31 by a source of Izvestia.

"The children born for a monetary reward were registered as having been born on the territory of the Russian Federation with a note on the paternity of a foreign citizen and sent to another state," the source said.

According to investigators, from 2018 to 2020, a group of doctors at a private clinic organized a large-scale newborn trafficking scheme under the guise of infertility treatment.

To implement the scheme, doctors forged medical documents, including certificates of infertility from so-called buyers and genetic parents. Under the guise of in vitro fertilization, they grew embryos solely for the purpose of subsequent sale of newborns and their export to other countries.

The case will be considered in the Frunzensky District Court of Vladivostok. The defendants face up to 15 years in prison.

On the same day, eight medical workers were indicted in the case of trafficking in newborn babies. According to the investigation, the defendants made a number of transactions for the purchase and sale of 13 children for a total amount of over 53 million rubles. The doctors are charged under clause "b" of Part 3 of Article 127.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Trafficking in minors with their illegal export abroad").