German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder has adopted a Russian orphan, it was revealed on Tuesday.
Three-year-old Victoria, from St Petersburg, has been living at the Schroders' family home in Hanover in northern Germany for several weeks.
The chairman of Schroder's Social Democrat party, Franz Muentefering, confirmed the reports.
"I wish them all the best together," he told reporters.
A spokesperson for the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed of Schroder's intention to adopt a Russian child.
"The decision was made fully in line with Russian law based on the decision of a Russian court," a Kremlin source told the Russian news agency Interfax, adding that Doris Schroder-Kopf, the chancellor's wife, was present in court for the final decision. It has been an emotional month for Schroder, who turned 60 in April and is facing almost weekly street demonstrations against his attempts to reform the flagging German economy.
Last week he visited for the first time the grave of his father, who was a conscript in the Nazi army and was killed by Romanian villagers during World War II.
It is not clear when Victoria arrived at the Schroder's home. Neighbors say that Schroder-Kopf has been seen carrying the toddler in the garden for several weeks, according to the German daily Bild.
It appears that the whole Schroder family flew to Russia a few weeks ago to collect the toddler.
The addition to the family was such a closely guarded secret that the German secret service that provides Schroder's bodyguards was told "the Schroders will be four" just before arriving at the plane to fly them home, Bild reported.
Schroder's last official visit to Russia was on July 8, when he led a delegation of about 30 top German businessmen on a one-day trip to meet Putin.
Victoria is the couple's second child. Schroder-Kopf, a 41- year old former journalist and the chancellor's fourth wife, has a 13-year-old daughter, Klara, from a previous relationship.
A successful children's author, Schroder-Kopf has dedicated herself to promoting children's causes and published a book of essays explaining politics to young Germans, called The Chancellor Lives in the Swimming Pool.
Shamans in Peru on Monday gathered for an annual New Year’s ritual where they made predictions for the year to come, including illness for US President Donald Trump and the downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “The United States should prepare itself because Donald Trump will fall seriously ill,” Juan de Dios Garcia proclaimed as he gathered with other shamans on a beach in southern Lima, dressed in traditional Andean ponchos and headdresses, and sprinkling flowers on the sand. The shamans carried large posters of world leaders, over which they crossed swords and burned incense, some of which they stomped on. In this
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
Near the entrance to the Panama Canal, a monument to China’s contributions to the interoceanic waterway was torn down on Saturday night by order of local authorities. The move comes as US President Donald Trump has made threats in the past few months to retake control of the canal, claiming Beijing has too much influence in its operations. In a surprising move that has been criticized by leaders in Panama and China, the mayor’s office of the locality of Arraijan ordered the demolition of the monument built in 2004 to symbolize friendship between the countries. The mayor’s office said in
‘TRUMP’S LONG GAME’: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said that while fraud was a serious issue, the US president was politicizing it to defund programs for Minnesotans US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday said it was auditing immigration cases involving US citizens of Somalian origin to detect fraud that could lead to denaturalization, or revocation of citizenship, while also announcing a freeze of childcare funds to Minnesota and demanding an audit of some daycare centers. “Under US law, if an individual procures citizenship on a fraudulent basis, that is grounds for denaturalization,” US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. Denaturalization cases are rare and can take years. About 11 cases were pursued per year between 1990 and 2017, the Immigrant Legal Resource
RSS