ST.-PETERSBURG, March 21 - RAPSI. The Finnish authorities are pressuring Russian national Rimma Salonen, who was derived of custody of her own son, according to human rights activist Johan Baeckman.

The conflict between Salonen and her husband Paavo arose several years after their divorce. In 2008, Rimma 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, assaulted Rimma and kidnapped Anton, according to Russian law enforcement agencies. Paavo was then assisted by Finnish diplomat Simo Pietilainen and illegally took the child back to Finland.

Rimma returned to Finland where she was given an 18-month suspended sentence in October 2009 for illegally taking her son to Russia.

Paavo Salonen and Pietilainen avoided criminal liability in Finland for kidnapping Anton. Finnish prosecutors terminated the case against them without filing charges in March 2011, which perplexed the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Salonen was invited to withdraw the lawsuits she had lodged in exchange for greater freedom to contact her son, Baekman said.

In his view, the Finnish authorities are blackmailing Rimma.

Russia has called on Finland to respect international legal commitments and to prosecute Pietilaeinen.

Interior Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich noted that the Russian authorities are concerned about Finlands reluctance to bring Pietilaeiner to account for his actions, which contradict his diplomatic status and Russian law.