‘DWTS’ Pro Gleb Savchenko Claims Ex-Wife Abducted Their Kids, Moved to China Amid Custody Dispute

Gleb Savchenko has filed a request for an emergency child custody order after he claims his ex-wife, Elena Samodanova, moved their kids to Hong Kong.

According to new court docs obtained by TMZ, the Dancing with the Stars pro, 42, claims that Samodanova, also 42, took their two daughters, Olivia, 15, and Zlata, 8, to Hong Kong following their 2020 split, in what was supposed to be a temporary move but never returned.

Per the docs, Savchenko claims the kids were supposed to return to the United States by June 30, 2024, adding that now, Samodanova is refusing to bring them back.

The move was documented in a Post Judgment Agreement back in 2023, Savchenko claimed, per the docs, which allowed Samodanova to “temporarily” move their children to Hong Kong for one year so she could work on a project in the region.

Instead, Savchenko says his ex-wife has “obtained permanent Hong Kong residency, enrolled the children in an expensive private school, got the children a cat, became engaged, and had another child with her fiancé.”

And Savchenko, who famously dated his DWTS partner, Brooks Nader, in the years since his 2020 divorce from Samodanova, believes it’s all intentional, citing in the docs Samodanova’s alleged plan to establish her and their children’s lives and future in Hong Kong.

“This has functionally forced me to travel to Hong Kong each year to visit my children, which I have consistently done despite Elena’s efforts taken to drastically limit my access to our daughters,” Savchenko claims.

While their daughter Zlata is currently still in China, the dance pro is asking that the judge grant him “temporary sole legal and sole physical custody” of just Olivia for now. He’s asking for no visitation from Samodanova, pending further court involvement after a scheduled hearing.

Savchenko claims that Olivia, who is currently with him, no longer wants to live in Hong Kong with her mother, with the television personality adding that he believes it’s in her best interest to live in and attend school in Los Angeles.

“Olivia does not want to be in the position of having to confront her mother considering Elena’s recent abusive comments to our daughter, including that she is a ‘disgrace’ to the family and other disparaging comments,” Savchenko writes, per the docs.

Savchenko also shares that he worries a return to Hong Kong for his eldest child would “result in an international wrongful retention/abduction of Olivia.”

Elsewhere in the docs, Savchenko makes a few other damning claims against his ex, including accusing her of taking their kids on a 20-hour bus ride to a remote village near Moscow during Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine, without any cell phones. He also claims she took them to Vietnam, as well, without his permission.

Savchenko and Samodanova have been ordered by the court to attend mediation over child custody on August 5, with a formal court hearing to follow.