“I had a daughter, Darya. It pains me to speak of her in the past tense. I still can't believe she is gone,” Oksana shares.
Darya gave birth to Artem in 2016, and there was a dash in the "father" field on the boy's birth certificate. Oksana supported her daughter in raising the child.
In 2020, Darya met Dmitry, with whom she soon began living, and in 2021, she married him.
The family moved to Russia in 2023 when Darya was pregnant with her second child. They initially settled in Chelyabinsk and then moved to Novosibirsk.
After the tragic death of Darya, Oksana, with the help of the General Consulate of Kyrgyzstan in Novosibirsk, was able to organize the transportation of her body back to their homeland.
“I want to express my gratitude to the consulate. They provided me with invaluable assistance in organizing the delivery. Dasha's body was transported at the expense of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Kyrgyz diaspora, and I didn’t pay a penny,” the woman recounts.
“At that moment, I was in despair and didn’t know what to do. I didn’t go for my grandson because I thought I would bury my daughter first… I didn’t want him to see his mother dying. Let her remain alive in his eyes,” Oksana says, holding back tears.
The body of her daughter was brought to Bishkek.
After the mourning period, which lasted nine days, Oksana began her fight for her grandson.Artem stayed in Russia with his stepfather, who is not his biological father. According to the grandmother, Dmitry arranged temporary custody through local authorities.
The grandson may end up unwanted
“I cannot leave Artyusha there. He is my grandson, a part of me and my daughter. I have been fighting for him for two years,” she says.Oksana contacted the guardianship authorities in Bishkek and received approval as a candidate for custody; however, the child's location abroad complicated the resolution of the issue.
The legal aspects of the situation also complicate the matter. Initially, a lawsuit was filed in court as a special proceeding, but it was later transferred to a regular lawsuit because the stepfather objected to transferring custody to the grandmother.
Oksana claims that Dmitry refuses to voluntarily hand over the child, despite the expiration of the temporary custody period.
Currently, Artem is being cared for by Dmitry's mother, Valentina. The family has resettled in Chelyabinsk.
“I worry about my grandson. He needs not only food and clothing but also psychological support, attention, communication, and family. Soon he will enter puberty, and it will be difficult for him,” Oksana notes.
Lawyer's Opinion
A lawyer, Indira Sautova, has intervened in the case, emphasizing that the situation requires legal resolution involving the governmental authorities of both countries.
Lawyer Indira Sautova.
According to the lawyer, the temporary custody arranged in Russia has expired, and Artem remains a citizen of Kyrgyzstan.
“The grandmother has received approval as a candidate for custody in Kyrgyzstan. We are reaching out to the competent authorities, including the General Consulate, the Ombudsman, and the Children’s Rights Commissioner in Russia, to bring the boy back home,” Sautova explains.
“We will act through the competent authorities of our country and the court. We want the grandmother's opinion to be taken into account. Her daughter passed away in 2024, and now it is already 2026. For two years, no one has helped to bring the grandson back. The boy is with someone who has neither blood nor legal rights to him,” the lawyer emphasizes.
Oksana Bukhantsova assures that she does not intend to give up.
“I am 51 years old, I work, I can provide for my grandson. I just want him to be close, at home,” she says.After two years of fighting for her grandson, Oksana is desperately seeking help in resolving this challenging situation.
