Moscow - A Russian man has sued an IVF clinic after his wife admitted she had swapped his sperm with her lover’s during treatment.
Maxim Anokhin only found that his one-year-old son was not his biological child when their relationship turned sour and his wife admitted to the swap.
Yana Anokhina, 38, had reportedly told the clinic she wanted the man she loved to be the father, but had let her husband pay for the treatment and kept him in the dark for the child’s first year.
After suing the Moscow clinic, Mr Anokhin was awarded £4 600 in compensation for his moral and financial damages.
"I trusted my wife," he said, "I believed her and trusted her, 100 per cent.
"It means that when I was told about it… I was shocked… I was distressed, and I could hardly believe it."
The court found that he had paid for the IVF treatment and had provided his sperm believing that he would be the father of the baby. Miss Anokhina has not spoken about the swap but reports say she wanted the father of her baby to be the man she loved. For a year Mr Anokhin believed the child was his and "loved and supported" the boy, called Timofey.
The couple later split, the court was told. Mr Anokhin now has a son with his new partner, and Miss Anokhin is in a relationship with Timofey’s biological father.
The court found that clinic staff assisted Miss Anokhina in swapping the sperm.
The doctor involved in the case, Liya Kazaryan, refused to speak in detail. But asked how a man could be certain he was the real father, she laughed and said: "Only a woman can be sure."