Gleb Savchenko Accuses Ex of Kidnapping Kids

Nearly five years after their divorce was finalized, Gleb Savchenko is taking his ex-wife Elena Samodanova back to court amid shocking allegations over child custody.

The pro, 42, acrimoniously split from Samodanova, 43, in 2020 after 14 years of marriage and two children - with the divorce taking an ugly turn when Samodanova accused Savchenko of 'ongoing infidelity' - which he denied.

Now, Savchenko has alleged Samodanova 'abducted' their children and has been keeping them in for two years without his consent in a July 14 court filing obtained by The Daily Mail.   

Savchenko, who is now seeking temporary legal and sole custody of eldest daughter Olivia, 15, alleged there has been a 'wrongful retention' of their two children - and further claimed his 'controlling' ex had also taken their daughters to Russia without his permission.

Samodanova has denied his claims in a statement and claimed Savchenko wrongfully kept Olivia in the US after he allegedly 'wrongfully canceled her ticket' back to Hong Kong last month.

Savchenko has requested a temporary emergency order be put in place so that Olivia can live with him in and attend high school, while his other daughter, Zlata, eight, remains in Hong Kong with her mother.

Savchenko also claimed in the filing that Olivia 'does not want to return to Hong Kong or to her mother's care' and that the teenager has 'requested a lawyer, to advocate and prevent her from suffering further harm and abuse committed by her mother.'

In the filing, the dancer claimed Olivia's potential return to her mother will 'likely result in an international wrongful retention/abduction of Olivia, again, in a foreign Country, including Russia which is not a signatory to the Hague Convention.'

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction is supposed to protect children from international abduction by one parent, quickly returning the child to their country of 'habitual residence'.

He had a nearly three-year relationship with Swedish blogger Elena Belle from 2021-2024