A mum has married a man whom she adopted as an orphan when he was just 13 years old.
Aisylu Chizhevskaya Mingalim, 53, married Daniel Chizhevsky, 22, earlier this month, less than a decade after they first met.
The couple tied the knot at a restaurant in Kazan, a city in Russia’s Tatarstan Republic, on October 20.
They two have said they are happy with their “perfect” relationship, with Ms Mingalim saying they “can’t live without each other”.
But the newlyweds also sparked controversy, as the musician first met her new husband when he was just 13 years old.
The couple met while Ms Mingalim worked as a singing teacher at the orphanage where Mr Chizhevsky lived as a child.
The teacher started raising him when he was 14, telling social media their relationship started not long after she took him home.
She said: “Our relationship is perfect. We can’t live without each other. We are on the same wavelength.”
Ms Mingalim said their ties are more spiritual than physical and that the two wed as she feared Mr Chizhevsky would be called to serve in Russia’s armed forces.
She told local media: “He was created for music, not for war, but at the same time, he is at the age when young men should take up arms. I began to think about how to protect him.
“I consulted with some acquaintances and they suggested this move to me – to marry him. In an informal conversation, of course.”
The musician, who has a biological son from a previous marriage, now plans to move nearly 1,000 miles away to Moscow so she can keep five adopted children.
Russian officials have seized five adopted children – four girls and a boy – from her care.
She has complained that some of those children have been placed back into care, and others have returned to their families.
Ms Mingalim believes she can keep the children if she moves them to Russia’s capital.
According to local media, she believes the children can “live freely” in Moscow.
The musician started adopting children after encountering orphans while working on a film project with a Tatarstan TV station.
