Russian girls swapped at birth win compensation

[News_Editor]

Russian girls swapped at birth win compensation

2011-11-01 04:11:15 GMT+7 (ICT)

MOSCOW (BNO NEWS) -- A Russian court on Monday awarded $100,000 in compensation to two families whose daughters were accidentally switched at birth in hospital, media reports said.

In December 1998, Irina and Anya were born 15 minutes apart in the same hospital in Kopeysk, a city in Chelyabinsk Oblast near the Ural Mountains. Yulia Belyaeva, who had brought Irina up believing her to be her own daughter, said she was only just getting used to the size of the award.

"It is the largest amount of compensation one can hope to get in Russia, but I haven't got my head around how I am going to spend it yet," she said, as quoted by the BBC.

The hospital's mistake was uncovered after Belyaeva arranged a DNA test because her former husband was refusing to pay child support. The test showed that in fact neither of them was her natural parent, the report said.

The children's parents are now considering buying properties close to each other, or even sharing one. However, there are big differences between the two households. Irina's natural father is from Tajikistan and a strict Muslim while Belyaeva is a Russian Orthodox Christian.

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