AP Interview: Driver says adopted Russian boy looked cheerful, showed no mental problems

Driver says Russian boy looked normal

MOSCOW — The driver hired to pick up a Russian boy whose adoptive American mother caused an international outcry by sending him back to Moscow says the boy looked cheerful, played with a Spider-man toy, and did not seem to show any of the mental problems the woman claims he has.

Artur Lukyanov told The Associated Press that on the way into town 7-year-old Artyom Savelyev looked like he was on a sightseeing tour, pointing at cars and boasting in English about how big the trucks were in America, opening his arms wide to show how big they were.

“The boy was in a good mood,” he said. “He did not seem frightened.”

Artyom flew unaccompanied to Moscow last week with a note from his adoptive mother, a nurse from Tennessee, saying she no longer wanted to keep him because he was violent and had severe “psychopathic” problems.

“I was lied to and misled by the Russian Orphanage workers and director regarding his mental stability and other issues,” Torry Hansen said in her note addressed to Russian authorities.

As a result of the case, Russia’s foreign minister and its children’s rights ombudsman have suggested that Russia suspend all U.S. adoptions until Moscow and Washington sign a bilateral adoption agreement.

Lukyanov, who speaks good English, said he had no idea the boy was Russian until his identity was confirmed by authorities. During the 90-minute ride into central Moscow, he even tried to teach the boy Russian words and sang an English alphabet song with him.

“He looked as if he was here on a sightseeing tour,” said Lukyanov. “He would occasionally get something from his backpack, like a Spider-man toy, and say: ‘It’s from America. Do you have anything like this in Russia?’”

Lukyanov recalled that at the airport he thought it was strange that the boy had no luggage with him except for a small colorful backpack. But aside from being a bit thin and shy, the fair-haired Artyom seemed like an ordinary kid, the driver said.

“During the time that I spent with him I didn’t notice any mental deviation,” said the 38-year-old Lukyanov, who spent more than six hours with the boy last Thursday. “But perhaps he behaves differently with strangers — I don’t want to pass judgments.”

Russian Health Ministry officials said that tests showed the boy has no mental issues.

Nancy Hansen, whose daughter adopted Artyom from Russia’s Far Eastern town of Partizansk last September, hired Lukyanov through his Web site and paid him $200 to pick the boy up from the airport, but kept him in the dark about his real mission.

Lukyanov’s English-language Web site advertises services as a personal driver and tour guide who can provide visitors help with Moscow’s “confusing roads.”

“When I got the first e-mail I had no doubt that she was flying herself,” Lukyanov said. “I feel deceived. Nancy’s actions were inhuman, and she treated me inhumanely, too.”

It was only in the last e-mail — the night before Artyom’s arrival — that Hansen said that Lukyanov was to pick up a 7-year-old boy called “Artem Justin Hansen” and drop him off at the Education Ministry in central Moscow.

Lukyanov spent the whole day with Artyom at the ministry and then at a police station before leaving in the late afternoon, when the Russian children’s rights commissioner arrived to take the boy to a hospital.

According to the driver, Artyom told authorities he did not go to school in the United States and that he cannot write. The boy replied in English to questions in Russian.

Abandoned by his alcoholic mother, Artyom was raised in an orphanage in Partizansk, some 100 kilometers (about 60 miles) away from Vladivostok. Once a rich mining town, Partizansk is now home to a dozen closed coal mines and factories.

Artyom spent the past six months in Shelbyville, Tennessee, a small town about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Nashville, set amid rolling farmland in one of the state’s top agricultural counties.

A U.S. delegation is heading to Russia next week to discuss a possible adoption treaty. Any adoption freeze could affect hundreds of American families. More than 1,800 Russian children were adopted in the United States last year, according to the Russian Health and Education Ministry.

At the police station, Lukyanov and social workers opened Artyom’s backpack to see it was filled with toys, crayons, paper — and one pair of underpants that everyone thought was too big for the boy. “He looked pretty skinny,” Lukyanov said.

Artyom was unwilling speak about his U.S. home or family, Lukyanov said, only saying that he lives with his mother and grandparents.

At the police station, social workers opened two big envelopes Artyom was carrying. The boy’s passport and other identifying documents were in one of them.

The other contained two smaller sealed envelopes — one with Lukyanov’s fee and the other with a note signed by Torry Hansen saying that Artyom is “mentally unstable” and “violent,” and that she “no longer wishes to parent this child.”

Artyom appeared glad to see so many people around at the station.

“He had lots of toys in his backpack, cars, crayons and paper — and he was giving them away to people around him,” Lukyanov said.

“He would pull out stuff from his bag like a magician, very pleased about it. He had two badges from United Airlines and he gave one of them to me.”

After a few hours at a police station, Artyom started to doze off on the shoulder of one of the social workers, Lukyanov said.

Meanwhile, Artyom’s future remains uncertain.

Officials are looking for new orphanages or foster families for him. A Russian Health and Education Ministry official earlier said Artyom, who turns 8 on Friday, said he would like to go back to the United States.

Associated Press Writer Teresa Wasson contributed from Nashville, Tennessee