These eight-month-old twins have been rescued from their parents, allegedly binge -drinking alcoholics, in the Russian capital Moscow after they were found starving after having not eaten for several days.
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the City of Moscow said in a statement obtained by Newsflash that the parents have been charged with attempted murder after law enforcement officials and child protection services went to the flat last week.
Neighbours are quoted in local media as having said that the children’s pushchair was never used and that they never left the flat.
The father is 43 years old and the couple has been together 15 years, with neighbours claiming that the mother gives birth almost every year.
The mother, who has not been named but who is reportedly 37 years old, was already deprived of her parental rights regarding eight children in 2020. But in May 2021, she gave birth to twins.
The father’s unnamed 39-year-old brother went to to visit them at the flat on 15th February.
He reportedly found his relatives drunk and he also realised that their children were ill. He called an ambulance and the children were taken to hospital.
One was diagnosed with an acute respiratory viral infection, while the second had acute bronchitis. Both were found to be emaciated.
The parents were reportedly unable to tell the police how and what they fed their children.
After being discharged from the hospital, the babies will join their siblings in state care.
The authorities said that “in the period from the end of May 2021 to February 2022, the man and wife, living in the apartment of a residential building located on Plekhanov Street in Moscow, systematically inflicted physical, mental and moral suffering on their young children, which led to the exhaustion of the latter and the emergence of their grave state of health”.
The Russian authorities said that the parents led an “asocial lifestyle”, with local media reporting that they are allegedly binge-drinking alcoholics.
The investigation is ongoing.
