Colona native Robert Lack was an active U.S. Marine from 1990 to 2010. He is a decorated naval aviator and served as an anti-terrorism officer for the Presidential Helicopter Squadron and the National Capital Region Command at Quantico, Va. He is a United Township High School, Black Hawk College and Augustana College graduate. His Quad-Cities' roots run deep. His mother, five brothers and two sisters live locally.
In 1994, Mr. Lack met Julia Kolkova in Moscow, Russia. Eventually, the two married and had four children. Daughter Mary is 19; son Ian is 18; son Samuel is 13; and daughter Sophia is 9. Lack, like all who enter into matrimony, hoped it would be forever. It was not.
He and Julia, while living in Dell Rapids S.D., divorced. Mr. Lack was awarded custody of the four children and Ms. Kolkova visitation rights. Mr. Lack remained in South Dakota with the children, while Ms. Kolkova moved to Fairfax, Va. The arrangement worked and Mr. Lack did his best to accommodate his ex-wife's wishes to spend time with the children.
Then, in the spring of 2015, in Mr. Lack's words, "Things got crazy. Samuel and Sophia were visiting their mother in Fairfax when she abducted them to Moscow,'' Mr. Lack said in a recent Facebook response from Moscow, where he has spent the past seven months battling for the release of Samuel and Sophia back to him.
"It was April 4 of last year, and she was able to obtain Russian citizenship and passports for the kids without me knowing it,'' Mr. Lack continued. "She lied and broke Russian law by claiming she was living in Russia in the fall of 2014 with Samuel and Sophia. This was a lie. She also did not get permission from me (to take the children anywhere).''
Mr. Lack says as the father and custodian of Samuel and Sophia, he would have had to grant Ms. Kolkova permission to get Russian citizenship and passports out of the United States. That never happened, prompting Mr. Lack to call the move a "kidnapping.''
Today, he lives in a Moscow hotel, heartbroken, angry and frustrated, trying — as a veteran — to work through pro-American channels to bring his children home. He is attempting to halt a Moscow judge's ruling in July 2015 that granted Ms. Kolkova custody of Samuel and Sophia. Marine Corps veteran Robert Lack is wrapped tightly in Russian red tape.
"The United States does not have exit controls at airports, and she was able to abduct them out of the country,'' Mr. Lack said. "I was told by the State Department and the FBI that what she did was illegal and that she must have falsified papers in order to get the passports. I was told it would be quick to get them back.''
That was 10 months ago. Since, Mr. Lack has hired a Russian attorney armed with a plethora of American documents showing him as Samuel and Sophia's custodial parent, but still the judge awarded custody of the children to Ms. Kolkova.
"I hired a Russian lawyer immediately,'' Mr. Lack said. "I arrived in Moscow on July 19 and went through the Russian court to get custody. Much of the evidence that I had was not allowed to be entered into the court, because it did not make Julia look good as a parent and the court had their agenda, which was to give custody to her. On Oct. 15, the judge gave custody to Julia.''
In October, the same judge that awarded Ms. Kolkova custody of Samuel and Sophia allowed Mr. Lack a "contact'' order, which required Ms. Kolkova to bring the two children to him for visitation three times a week. It also allowed him to speak to them by phone each night and by Skype.
"That has not happened,'' Mr. Lack said. "Nothing. The police will not enforce the order and the judge did not give Julia any warning about following her orders. Courts here are not independent as they are in the United States. They are all politicized. In the U.S., if the roles were reversed, the Russian parent would be able to have contact and visitation rights to see their children, whether it is supervised or unsupervised. Why can't Russian courts enforce contact orders like we do in the U.S.?''
Mr. Lack, living off his military retirement, remains in Russia, working daily to find ways to be united with his children. His two oldest children attend South Dakota State University and were not allowed to see their brother and sister in a late summer visit. He has appealed the custody decision and is awaiting a new court date. An immigration hearing for the two children is this week. There is support from the Quad-Cities, Dell Rapids and from S.D. Sen. John Thune.
"They had a fundraiser in the Quad-Cities and in South Dakota to help me stay and fight this,'' Mr. Lack said. "I know there is another senator or a congressman that can help me. Someone, somewhere. My children were kidnapped by my ex-wife and now it seems like they have been kidnapped by the Russian government. Help!'' qconline.com
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