MOSCOW, March 6 - RAPSI. Russia has called on Finland to respect international legal commitments and to prosecute Finnish diplomat Simo Pietilaeinen, who illegally smuggled a child from Russia in the trunk of his car, Interior Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Tuesday.

Judging by Pietilaeinen's statements, he deliberately violated Russian law and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations by helping Paavo Salonen smuggle his son through the Russian-Finnish border in the trunk of his service vehicle with diplomatic plates, Lukashevich said.

He noted that the Russian authorities are perplexed about Finlands reluctance to bring Pietilaeiner into account for his actions, which contradict his diplomatic status and Russian law.

The conflict between Paavo Salonen and his Russian wife Rimma occurred several years after they divorced. In 2008, Rimma Salonen took her son Anton to Russia and was deprived by the Finnish court of custody in absentia. However, in spring 2009, several people, including Paavo Salonen, assaulted her and kidnapped Anton, Russian law enforcement agencies say. Paavo Salonen was then assisted by Pietilainen and illegally took the child back to Finland.

Paavo Salonen and Pietilainen avoided criminal liability in Finland for kidnapping Anton. Finnish prosecutors terminated the case against them without filing charges in March, which perplexed the Russian Foreign Ministry.