‘DWTS’ pro Gleb Savchenko claims ex-wife ‘abducted’ their daughters and moved to China
Gleb Savchenko has accused his ex-wife of abducting their two daughters and taking them to Hong Kong, where they’ve been living for the past two years.
The “Dancing With the Stars” pro filed for an emergency custody order in Los Angeles on Tuesday. He’s requesting temporary sole custody of his eldest daughter, Olivia, 15. He and his ex-wife, Elena Samodanova, also share daughter Zlata, 8.
In court docs obtained by Page Six, Savchenko claims he and Samodanova — who’s also a professional dancer and choreographer— had an agreement that she could take their daughters to Hong Kong, where she was working on a project. However, per the court docs, Gleb claims she was supposed to return them after a year. He alleges that she refused to return the children to the US, and has instead enrolled them in a private school, got engaged to another man (Vlad Kvartin) and had a baby with her fiancé.
Savchenko also claims his ex also took their daughters to Moscow and Vietnam without his permission.
According to Savchenko, Olivia — who’s currently with him in California — wants to stay with him and go to high school there.
“Olivia does not want to be prevented from being with me, as her mother has controlled, dictated and limited over the past few years,” he states in the docs. “Finally, Olivia does not want to return to Hong Kong whatsoever or under any circumstances. She is afraid to do so.”
Savchenko claims Olivia is scared of “her mother’s temper and anger issues.” He also claims his eldest daughter told him about her alleged attempts to distance him from their children.
“There is no doubt in our minds that if Olivia were to return to her mother’s care, she would be prevented from talking to or seeing me again and so would Zlata,” he states. “I am very concerned about Olivia’s current mental health following years of her mother’s maltreatment of her.”
Page Six has reached out to both parties for comment.
In a statement to TMZ, Samodanova denied her ex-husband’s accusations, claiming Olivia is “thriving” in Hong Kong. She also accused him of keeping Olivia in California with him when she was supposed to return to Hong Kong on June 5.
“This is a wrongful international retention,” she alleged. “His emergency filing is a rushed attempt to bypass proper laws.”
Earlier this month, Savchenko posted pics of him and Olivia together on Instagram.
He captioned the post, “A couple of days without rushing. Grocery runs. Cooking from scratch. Training together. Long conversations. A few moments to slow down and actually be present.”
He added, “Life has a funny way of reminding you that the simplest days often become the most memorable ones.”
Savchenko, 42, and Samodanova, 43, got married in July 2006. She filed for divorce in December 2020 and accused him of infidelity, which he vehemently denied.
Their split has been contentious. In March 2022, she claimed he was “not available” to take care of their kids in court docs and requested full custody of their daughters.
