in Russia to regain custody and revoke the Russian citizenship. On 20 November 2008, the Balakhna City Court revoked Anton's Russian citizenship because his mother had presented false information for registration of citizenship. On 17 March 2009, the judicial board on civil cases of the Nizhny Novgorod regional court upheld the decision. After the decision, the father came to Russia to take Anton back to Finland. Abduction by father Russian online newspaper Grani.ru claimed that in April 2009 Anton was forcibly taken from his mother by his father outside her home on Ryazanova Street. The press service of Russia's Investigation Committee alleges that on 12 April 2009, the father, acting in conspiracy with persons unknown, attacked the mother and retrieved Anton. After allegedly being prevented from leaving Russia, the father and son took refuge at a vacant apartment of the Finnish Consulate-General in Saint Petersburg. The Russian authorities allegedly ignored the earlier Russian court decision and Anton's Russian citizenship was expeditiously re-instated on 7 May. One day later, on 8 May, Anton was smuggled to Finland in the closed trunk of a diplomatic car by the legal consul at the Saint Petersburg consulate, Simo Pietiläinen. Diplomatic incident The story was revealed on 14 May by the Finnish scandal paper 7 päivää causing a diplomatic incident. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov called his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb to protest and to demand an explanation. The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Finland of a blatant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which states that diplomats should strictly observe the laws of the host country. The formal complaint was followed by a formal diplomatic note on 20 May. Diplomat Pietiläinen, who helped take Anton out of Russia, was dismissed from the Finnish Consulate in St. Petersburg after the incident. Russia has declared Pietiläinen persona non grata. The developments in St. Petersburg were closely followed by the Finnish government, including President Tarja Halonen, who condemned the behaviour of Simo Pietiläinen The actions of the Finnish diplomat involved were defended by Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb, whilst Tarja Halonen has condemned them. President Halonen, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and foreign minister Stubb all denied having prior knowledge of the smuggling plan or the involvement of Finnish diplomats in it. Conflict of law There is a conflict of law between Finland and Russia. It is a criminal offense under Finnish law for the