MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) - The father of Russian citizen Anastasia Jalull, who is now in Syria, says he is with her and has no intention of returning her to Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.
"Russian diplomats managed to contact Anastasia's father Abdallah Jalul, who said he is now living in a temporary accommodation center for internally displaced persons with his daughter and other family members in the area of Sukkari (Aleppo)," the report says.
"Jalull said the situation in this district is calm and no clashes or shooting is occurring there. He is not planning to return his daughter to Russia yet," the ministry reported.
Anastasia Jalull (Terekhova) is now nine years old. She was born in Moscow, but her mother, a citizen of Russia, died soon after the birth and the girl was raised by her mother's boyfriend and her grandmother. Several years after Anastasia's mother's death, Syrian citizen Abdallah Jalull proved that he was the biological father of the girl via a DNA test. The child protective services took his side and the girl was taken from the grandmother, who had raised her until she turned six. The father took the girl to Syria in 2010 "to visit relatives" and she has not returned to Russia ever since.