Robert Rantala (Russian: Роберт Рантала, born 2002) is a Russian-Finnish dual citizen who at seven years old was taken by the Finnish social service to a children's shelter in early 2010.
[1] The result of his efforts was the boy will stay with his family, but Finnish social workers will make regular visits, which solved the issue for both sides.
The first news of the incident was published by Interfax on 19 February with the commentaries of Finnish Anti-Fascist Committee activist Johan Bäckman and the boy's mother Inga Rantala.
[3] According to YLE news analysis the incident was a serious collision of cultures: "The Finnish authorities believed that they dealt with a child protection case, while the Kremlin's representative made a high international politics.
"[9] According to Finnish social authorities, it is unusual for foreign officials to intervene and that child welfare cases are carefully resolved and not decided on a whim.
[10] In July 2010 Pavel Astakhov accused Finland of refusing to sign a bilaterial agreement with Russia on family and civil cases.
[citation needed] The Russian Children's ombudsman office sent a proposal and draft agreement, similar to the one already signed with Italy.