Alexander Dorozhkin and his wife Lyubov Marchenko. Photo: VK
A municipal deputy from the ruling United Russia party has resigned from his position on the city council in Togliatti, in the Samara region, after it emerged that his wife had travelled to Chile to give birth to their child, State Duma Deputy Yevgeny Revenko announced on Monday.
Telegram channel Baza reported on Monday that Alexander Dorozhkin’s wife, Lyubov Marchenko, posted a video on social media describing her experience and saying that she had “always dreamed of having a child abroad”.
“My husband studied the pros and cons,” Marchenko said in the video, which rapidly went viral. “We did have the option of giving birth in the United States or Canada, but decided on South America, Chile, for many reasons. A Chilean passport allows you to travel to many countries without a visa. Also, the economy is very developed and crime is low,” she said.
Marchenko added that Dorozhkin, the former head of a commission on the urban economy at Togliatti city council, had paid for her business-class ticket to Chile, which Baza estimated could have cost up to 1 million rubles (€10,600). As well as stepping down from the city council, Dorozhkin also resigned from United Russia.
Following the backlash against her video, Marchenko apologised, deleted the post and announced her return to Togliatti. Dorozhkin himself had previously outlined his own “patriotic position” in past social media posts including one in which he says “Russia is our motherland, our home, our strength and inspiration”, Baza reported.
According to Chilean law, a child born in the country automatically acquires Chilean citizenship, with some exceptions. Non-Chilean parents of a Chilean child are given the opportunity to apply for a residence permit — and ultimately for citizenship — through a simplified procedure.
