[12] The 65-year-old father blames a religious organization near the Russian Orthodox Church in Finland for the abduction,[13][14] calling the Memorial Society of Saint Seraphim of Sarov (Finnish: Serafim Sarovilaisen Muistoyhdistys)[15] a sect.
[11] After locating the child and mother in Balakhna near Nizhny Novgorod the father initiated legal proceedings in Russia to regain custody and revoke the Russian citizenship.
On 17 March 2009, the judicial board on civil cases of the Nizhny Novgorod regional court upheld the decision.
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.
[18] 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.
[19] 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.
[5] Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov called his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb to protest and to demand an explanation.
[citation needed] It is a criminal offense under Russian law for the Finnish diplomat to take the same child from Russia back to Finland.
[citation needed] This is why the Finnish diplomat was declared persona non grata while the Russian mother faces parental abduction criminal charges in Finland.
[38] According to Finnish expert on Russia Ilmari Susiluoto, the case of Anton is part of the Kremlin public relations campaign.
[39] Rimma Salonen was given a one to five year suspended sentence for kidnapping and child abduction on 13 October 2009 in käräjäoikeus (lower court).
Astakhov also referred to statements of Johan Bäckman that Finnish authorities had also banned Anton from praying, being baptized, or wearing crosses.
[42] A Russian newspaper reported these claims and referred Anton's mother and Bäckman to the Finnish Anti-Fascist Committee.
[43][44] In March 2011, Rimma Salonen announced she is a candidate for the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election for the Workers Party of Finland.
[49] In May 2013 Supreme Court of Finland decided not to give Rimma Salonen right to appeal for the ruling of Vaasa Hovrätt.