Police have freed a Russian woman and her two children who were being held hostage by her German ex-husband. The man had travelled to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don to demand he be given custody to his son.

The German man, armed with a knife and a gun decided to take desperate measures to try and retrieve his son from his ex-wife.

The woman had returned to her native Russia after their split three years ago, to live with her three children, one of which was the biological son of her former German spouse.

The man slightly injured his ex-wife's teenage son form another marriage as he entered their home. The boy escaped, alerting neighbors and police. Keeping his former family hostage, the man demanded he be allowed to take his child home. After four hours of unsuccessful negotiations police stormed the flat, successfully ending the hostage situation. No one was injured during the storm, including the hostage-taker himself.

This case is just one example of problems caused over access to children, when the parents live in different countries. Thus, two leading Russian actresses, Elena Safonova and Natalia Zakharova, both lost custody of their children to their foreign spouses after the divorce