Article
Legal regulation of assisted reproduction treatment in Russia

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Abstract

Russia remains one of the countries with a most favourable approach towards human reproduction in Europe, allowing almost everybody wanting to have a child of their own through assisted reproduction treatment to fulfill their dream. The legal situation around assisted reproduction treatment in Russia is very favourable; surrogacy, gamete and embryo donation are permitted, even on a commercial level. Gestational surrogacy is an option for heterosexual couples and single women, although a court decision might be needed to register a ‘surrogate’ child born to a couple who are not officially married or a single woman. However, it is not explicitly allowed nor prohibited for single men.

Section snippets

Current situation

There is neither specific federal law regarding all aspects of assisted reproduction in Russia nor a regulating authority in this area such as the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in the UK. Due to a critical demographical situation in Russia, drafting of a federal law on legal regulation of assisted reproduction treatment and reproductive rights has been resumed.

Today, the basis for legal regulation of assisted reproduction is Article 35 of the Basic Law of the Russian Federation

Surrogacy

Unlike Germany (Schreiber, 2002) or Italy (Benagiano and Gianaroli, 2004), gestational surrogacy is absolutely legal in Russia and some other ‘post-Soviet’ countries (e.g. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Ukraine), but normally it is an option only for heterosexual couples and single women. No specific preliminary permission from any regulatory board or court, as is the case in Greece (Kriari-Catranis, 2003), is required. There have to be certain medical indications

Posthumous reproduction

Posthumous reproduction and posthumous gamete retrieval are not regulated by law in Russia.

A well-known posthumous programme was performed in Ekaterinburg. Ekaterina Zakharova used cryopreserved spermatozoa of her late son Andrei to ‘create’ her grandson Georgiy through a gestational surrogacy programme combined with anonymous egg donation. Before following a course of chemotherapy in Israel, 19-year-old Andrei Zakharov left a sample of his spermatozoa for cryoconservation. No instructions for

Foreign citizens

Liberal legislation makes Russia attractive for reproductive tourists looking for techniques not available in their own country. Intended parents go there for oocyte donation, because of advanced age or marital status (single women) and when surrogacy is considered. Costs for assisted reproduction treatment are also lower than in the EU. Foreigners have the same rights to assisted reproduction as Russian citizens. If delivery in a gestational surrogacy programme takes place in Russia,

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Konstantin Svitnev is the General Manager of Rosjurconsulting, the first Russian and International Family and Reproductive Law firm in the Russian Federation. He is founder of the Reproductive Law and Ethics Research Center based in Moscow. His main involvement since 1991 has been reproductive law and the legal challenges and controversies in the area of assisted human reproduction.

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