Denis Abliazin and Ksenia Semenova, two Russian gymnastics stars, got married in 2016, after the Rio Olympics. While Abliazin was and still is an active athlete, Semenova retired in 2011 due to health issues and switched to coaching and judging. In 2017, she gave birth to their son Yaroslav. However, in 2018, the couple divorced.
While they mostly opted not to talk about the divorce to the media as both are relatively private people, there were hints from both on social media that the divorce was not amicable. In the summer of 2019, Abliazin made the news when a bank sued him for not making payments on the loan he took in 2015. According to the court proceedings, in 2019, Abliazin owed the bank about $16,000. Abliazin later said to the media that his difficulties in making the loan payments resulted from the divorce.
It seems that the issues in communication between the divorced couple were hard enough for Semenova to resort to airing them on social media. She posted an exchange between Abliazin and her friend, Kristina Arutyunyan, who was apparently asked to talk to Abliazin on behalf of Semenova.
In the exchange, Arutyunyan asks if she can call and talk to Abliazin about his son, Yarik. It seems that Abliazin’s new partner was involved in the call, and Arutyunyan asks to talk just to Ablizian, to which he responds, “Do not call here ever, both you and her!!!”.
He then sends two messages full of cursing, slurs, and threats:
“Listen, you little Armenian*, I’ll fucking deport the fuck out of you of this country if you’ll keep talking like that. Fucking monkey, a person without a homeland, fucking go to your homeland and teach your people there how to talk. I’m telling you the last time, if you’ll call or write to me, I’ll trouble myself, come to Moscow, and fucking bash your head in.”
He added in a second message:
“Your contact will be blocked and hers as well, everywhere. I don’t want to hear or see you both ever again. Goodbye.”
Semenova did not elaborate on what prompted the conflict but a father’s refusal to participate in a child’s life in Russia often means one of two things (or both) – not paying alimony or refusing to allow a child to travel abroad.
Russia has a high percentage of divorces, with 65% of all marriages ending in a divorce. At the same time, it is very common to have children right after getting married, thus, the divorced couples often have children. Culturally, a child is still considered to be a mother’s responsibility and fathers rarely want to have full or even partial custody of a child. Around a third of all Russian families with children as single-parent families, with 90% out of those being single mothers. When men divorce their wives, they often automatically assume they are divorced from children as well and stop participating in a child’s life. More than half of them refuse to pay alimony and those who do pay, usually pay much smaller sums than what they have to. In Russia, many people still receive “black salaries”, meaning that a part or all of their salary is cash-based and hidden from the tax authorities. This means that the official income of many people is much lower than their real income and the courts can only make them pay the alimony based on the official income. Abliazin’s income likely consists of several sources including competition prizes and special stipends from the government that vary depending on his results. Thus, the sum of the alimony would need to be constantly adjusted and, if he is not willing to do it, would require court hearings.
Another big issue for single mothers is that even when fathers do not have custody and have not seen the child for many years, they still need to give permission for a child to travel abroad. That parental right continues until the child turns 18 and is extremely hard to take away. If a mother wants to take her child on a trip to a country that requires getting a visa, a father needs to sign official permission. Many do this in exchange for a chunk of alimony or a different bribe or refuse altogether. In addition, a father can also easily file an official prohibition for a child to leave the country and a mother would then need to fight a costly court battle to challenge that. A significant number of Russian fathers use this policy as revenge or to manipulate mothers. Thus, even an absent father could potentially make the life of his child and ex-wife much more difficult with very little effort.
*The word he used “armyashka” literally means “little Armenian” but it is a slur. While Armenians and other people from the Caucasus region would be considered white in many countries, including US (the Caucasian race is literally named after the region), in Russia, they are considered to be people of color and face discrimination.
Rosha look like Brazil… but [mostly] caucasian…
Russia is far from evolving when it comes to equal rights. To be gay and a woman there is to be born marked! Filthy country!
wao apparently , Russia sells a modern image of is people ,politics to the world ,but is like those middle eastern countries were woman are worth nothing ….i thought the abusive times of the Soviet union were gone i was so wrong……
of course russia never change, when aliya said there is no abuse in russia gymnastic, i never believe it. She just want protect her friends, coaches and her country. I feel bad for athlete because this will lead to more trouble. Men is russia is a shit and troublemaker. They just want make baby and dont want share responsibility. What a digusting men