The child custody and alimony battle for Nikita Zaitsev and his ex-wife Margarita has now reached the level of a country-wide scandal.
Margarita Zaitseva (pictured above, left) appeared yesterday on Russia 1's (not to be confused with Channel One) popular 'Live with Andrei Malakhov' program. The talk show often features scandalous material and has in the past aired the dirty laundry of many celebrities. A panel of "experts" and advocates for each side in the matter is called on during the show to comment on the various developments.
Margarita Zaitseva (nee Rubina), who married Nikita in 2015, repeated her allegation that her ex-husband kidnapped their two daughters on November 23rd (he had taken a personal leave of absence from the Senators on November 22nd and flew to Russia). The short video of the incident was played on the show, and Margarita identified two of men involved were her ex-husband and his father, Igor. She also stated that she believes that her then-lawyer was part of the kidnapping, as she had previously refused to leave the house with her two daughters for fear of this kind of incident. It was on that specific day that the lawyer set up an appointment for her with the doctor for the children to undergo some tests relevant to the custody case (she declined to specify what kind of tests) and convinced her to go outside, where Zaitsev was waiting along with his father and another unidentified man. She has since retained new attorneys who also appeared with her on the show.
Also shown repeatedly during the program was the footage from candid cameras installed in the house where Margarita and the two children were living, which were leaked onto the internet in late November, another thing that Margarita blames on her father-in-law. The grainy footage shows her with an unknown man, who appears nude in some shots and rolling what the Zaitsev family allege to be a marijuana cigarette.
"People put in cameras and then uploaded my private life to the internet," said a visibly upset Margarita. "I've been labeled a slut, an adulteress, and a drug addict." Margarita admitted that while the children were home during this time, nothing inappropriate took place while the children were awake and the alleged 'drugs' were actually a regular tobacco cigarette. She also reminded everyone that the divorce had been finalized months ago and claims that Nikita had also moved on with a new girlfriend
The legal expert, a celebrity divorce lawyer Pavel Pyatnitskiy pointed out that the cameras were installed legally, as the house belonged to Nikita and his family, and that the term 'kidnapping' cannot apply, as according to Russian law, a parent cannot be considered to 'kidnap' their own children.
Nikita's father, who declined to appear on the program, is a central figure in all these matters. While he gave Margarita an address where the children are supposed to be staying with a nanny, she brought footage of her visit to the alleged address, only to find an apartment occupied by someone else and neighbors who claim they had never seen her children. Margarita believes that Igor Zaitsev is hiding the girls, ages 2 and 4, at his own home and refuses her entrance. In previous statements, Igor Zaitsev has denied these allegations and stated that the matter will be settled in court where he and his son's attorneys expect to prove that Margarita is an unfit mother.
Margarita stoically sat through some boisterous arguments from the experts and advocates, most of whom appeared to take her husband's side. When she was accused of marrying Nikita for his money, the show's host Andrei Malakhov reminded everyone that Margarita's father was the founder of Sport Express Media, that her family was well off, and she is not some 'gold-digging escort.'
Margarita presented an alleged texting conversation with her ex-husband from 2016, where he repeatedly calls her "stupid" and "incompetent" when it comes to parenting and that "she should be thankful that his parents are helping her with the kids. She also said that while her somewhat temperamental husband never hit her, he did once push her so hard she cut her leg on the edge of a metal table.
One of Nikita's friends, sports agent Daria Shishkanova (pictured above, right), proceeded to lambast Margarita. "You came here to ruin Nikita's name and reputation with your blatant lies," said an animated Shishkanova. "That's what your lawyer instructed you to do. Nikita only wrote you those texts because of the horns you were growing on him were breaking through his helmet and straining his neck. (Editor's note: The Russian slang term for adultery/cuckolding is literally translated as 'growing/installing horns on the husband.') When he was on road trips, you were going to Vegas with your lover."
Adding fuel to the fire, the conflict may have made its way into the NHL. On December 15th, a day before Zaitsev's Senators were set to play Sergei Bobrovsky's Panthers, Boobrovsky's wife Olga put the video of the alleged 'kidnapping' on her Instagram, along with a plea to not separate mothers from their children. "I know Margarita as a nice, smart, intelligent girl and a wonderful mother!" wrote Olga. "All the allegations from the Zaitsevs are lies and defamation! Caring grandparents would not throw dirt on the mother of their grandchildren and inflict psychological damage on them by ripping them out of their mother's arms." She continued to defend Margarita in comments, stating that "for millions of men in our country, a woman is nothing more than an appendage with no rights [in these matters]."
Zaitsev missed the game against Florida because of an injury he sustained in the previous game against the Blue Jackets. He is expected to miss about a week of action and has been placed on IR by the Sens.
Source: Sports.ru
