Dancing With the Stars professional Gleb Savchenko has filed for an emergency child custody order, alleging his ex-wife has kept their children in Hong Kong beyond the terms of their custody agreement.
According to legal documents obtained by TMZ, Savchenko shares daughters Olivia and Zlata with ex-wife Elena Samodanova. Following their divorce, the girls relocated to Hong Kong with Samodanova in 2023.
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Savchenko claims the move was intended to be temporary under a post-judgment agreement that allowed the children to live in Hong Kong for one year while Samodanova worked on a project in the region. He alleges the girls were supposed to return to the United States by June 30, 2024, but says that never happened.
In the filing, Savchenko alleges Samodanova has since “obtained permanent Hong Kong residency, enrolled the children in an expensive private school, got the children a cat, became engaged, and had another child with her fiancé.”
He claims those actions demonstrate an effort to permanently establish the children’s lives in Hong Kong without his consent.
Savchenko also alleges he has been forced to travel overseas to maintain contact with his daughters.
“This has functionally forced me to travel to Hong Kong each year to visit my children, which I have consistently done despite Elena’s efforts taken to drastically limit my access to our daughters,” he said in the filing.
The ballroom dancer is asking the court to award him temporary sole legal and physical custody of the couple’s 15-year-old daughter, Olivia, pending further proceedings.
Samodanova has denied Savchenko’s allegations.
In a statement shared with TMZ, she said, “The statement from Mr. Savchenko’s attorney misrepresents our family’s reality. As Olivia’s primary caregiver, I have raised her every day while Gleb worked full-time on DWTS. Today, Olivia thrives in Hong Kong. She attends a top school and is an elite ballroom dancer.”
She also argued that California courts do not have jurisdiction over their daughter.
“Gleb’s actions directly jeopardize her future, education, and athletic progress. California lacks jurisdiction over our daughter. Hong Kong is Olivia’s permanent home and legal residency,” Samodanova said. “Ironically, Gleb himself holds a Permanent Resident card there.”
She further alleged that Olivia had been scheduled to return to Hong Kong on June 5, but that Savchenko “wrongfully canceled her ticket without my permission,” calling it “a wrongful international retention.”
Samodanova concluded by asking the court to delay any temporary orders so her legal team can present records through what she described as the proper legal process.
