"I don't know where he lives or what he eats." Husband took son from Belarusian model in Canada
For three years now, famous Belarusian model Kristina Martsinkevich has been unable to leave Canada. "If I leave, I'm afraid I'll never see my little son Leo again, whom his father is trying to take from me," says the girl. "According to the decision of the child protection services, I am allowed to see my child only three times a week, and they don't tell me where he lives, nor do they provide contacts for the kindergarten he was sent to. It's terribly painful." The story is told by Onliner.
Since 2023, Kristina has been living in Montreal, her husband's hometown. According to her, after two years of marriage, her husband left the family without explanation, abandoning her and their one-and-a-half-year-old Leo without means of support. Subsequently, a court case took place, which sided with the mother and ordered payments for her and the child's maintenance.
However, in June 2026, child protection services took Kristina's son, and now she can only see him according to a schedule. The child's handover takes place at a police station.
"He proposed to me, and a week later we got married in Mexico."
Kristina Martsinkevich was written about back in 2018. At that time, she was a titled model — the first vice-Miss Belarus 2014 — and the founder of her own beauty school.
Kristina was 29 years old when she met her future husband. This happened during a vacation in Cuba in February 2022.
— In a large company that gathered in the evenings, he was the only one who didn't speak Russian, so I started translating for him. That's essentially how our relationship began. Literally a few days later, his vacation ended, and he flew to Canada, while I was stuck in Cuba for a while: flights were constantly being postponed due to the geopolitical situation. Christian was in touch with me the whole time, reassuring and supporting me.
After returning to Belarus, Kristina continued to communicate with her new acquaintance, although, by her own admission, she did not plan to develop the relationship.
— I never believed in long-distance relationships. In Minsk, I had my own business — a modeling studio for aesthetic development for children and teenagers, and I didn't want to change anything in my life. But Christian didn't give up: despite the time difference, he was in touch with me almost around the clock. And when I casually mentioned that we needed to meet to develop the relationship, three weeks later he was meeting me in Serbia. There, I also applied for a Canadian visa, and we flew to Montenegro together.
After returning to Belarus, Kristina, according to her, gradually abandoned her business. Her chosen one was against her working and began regularly sending her money.
After a few months, the uncertainty became stressful: there was no answer regarding the visa, and they were constantly talking on the phone, not knowing what would happen next.
Then Kristina decided to go to Mexico — the closest country to Canada where one could enter with a European visa. By then, they were already officially a couple.
On September 1, 2023, Christian proposed to Kristina, and a week later they got married in Mexico.
— We were just the two of us at the registration. We wanted to have the wedding later, when the visa was ready and I could fly to Canada. So after the registration, we went our separate ways again: I returned to Belarus, and Christian went back home.
Their next meeting took place in November in Colombia. The couple planned to live there for several months and then move to the Netherlands.
However, in March, they again went their separate ways to different countries.
— I continued to wait for the Canadian visa, but I increasingly didn't want to return to my husband. I barely knew his parents — I had only seen them online — but I knew they had been divorced for a long time and each lived their own life. At the same time, relatives constantly interfered in my husband's affairs, calling him endlessly.
At some point, Kristina says, she realized that Christian did not make decisions until he received approval from his mother, father, and grandfather.
— I simply told him that I wasn't going to build a family with a mama's boy. But he started to convince me otherwise, and I believed him.
In July 2023, Kristina flew to Montreal on a tourist visa and has not left Canada since.
"After another session with the family psychotherapist, he silently left the family."
The Belarusian woman admits that she flew overseas hoping that their life would finally get better. Initially, they settled in a small apartment in a Montreal suburb and began to set up their home life.
However, according to her, they constantly argued even over elementary things. The apartment contained items belonging to her husband's family, which the couple did not use but were forced to move with every relocation.
Kristina says her husband was often silent, withdrawn, cold, smoked, and took some pills. She suggested seeing a family psychologist.
Six months later, the tourist visa under which she could legally stay in Canada was expiring.
— I started asking my husband to buy me tickets home: Christmas was approaching, and I didn't want to celebrate the holiday with his family as a tourist. And only at the last moment did Christian, as my sponsor, submit documents for a residence permit — this happened on December 31. Since my Canadian visa had already expired at the time of application, I lost the right to leave the country: otherwise, I simply wouldn't be allowed back in.
In 2024, the couple again changed their residence and moved into Christian's apartment. Kristina says that even before they started living together, she didn't hide that she wanted children, and her husband also wanted them.
Their son Leo was born on December 21, 2024. According to Kristina, after his birth, the family situation worsened even further.
— I went through the entire pregnancy easily, but morally it was difficult due to the total control from my husband's relatives. They interfered in everything — even what I ate. The last straw was the partner birth, where I pleaded for his mother not to come, but an hour later she was already in the room…
In September 2025, the couple tried for the first time to go on vacation as a trio, without the husband's relatives, but the trip fell through after an argument.
Kristina said she was tired and wanted to take her son and return to Belarus. After this, Christian suggested consulting a family psychotherapist and found a specialist who spoke Russian and English.
— And after another session, he simply left the family without explanation. Leo was only nine months old at the time.
Husband sued
During her entire time in Canada, Kristina did not work. The family lived on her husband's money and in his apartment. According to her, this was their mutual decision.
The couple planned to develop a joint business — selling musical instruments and teaching music — and even managed to officially register a company.
— When I flew to Canada and said goodbye to my business, I knew I was effectively going nowhere. I didn't have the required level of English or a work permit: I applied twice for a work visa and was rejected. But I also wasn't going to be a dependent. My husband and I agreed that for a while I would manage the household, and then we would start building a joint music business.
After her husband left, Kristina says, all further communication became possible only through lawyers.
— So I was left alone with a small nine-month-old child and no money. Fortunately, by that time I had managed to create a women's community, and the girls from it started bringing us food and baby items. My mother and friends sent parcels from Belarus.
In November 2025, Kristina's husband filed a lawsuit in court. He wanted to obtain sole custody of their son.
Kristina claims that her husband lost this case but then made new demands: to divorce, forcibly evict her from his apartment, and take back the mobile phone he was paying for.
Between lawsuits, according to her, Christian called the police on her six times, claiming she had mental health problems. The woman denies these problems.
What the court decided
Kristina corroborated her story with documents she provided to the editorial office. According to the decision of the Superior Court of Quebec dated November 7, 2025, the child was to remain with the mother.
The father was allowed to see his son three days a week for four hours — on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday from 10:00 to 14:00.
Since Kristina is a foreigner without income, the court obliged Christian to pay her 1000 Canadian dollars for spousal support, including utility bills and mobile communication, as well as an additional 733 Canadian dollars for child support. A total of 1733 dollars per month.
Kristina also retained the right to use her husband's apartment.
To resolve contentious issues related to child-rearing, the couple was offered to undergo a parental coordination program. Its essence is to help former partners comply with court decisions and agreements regarding child-rearing without endless and costly legal disputes.
However, according to Kristina, her husband completely refused direct contact with her.
— I can't just approach him and talk to him humanly. He forbids me from approaching and only communicates through lawyers.
She can live in her husband's apartment until the next court hearing, scheduled for November 26, 2026.
But now, Kristina says, she no longer knows what position the court will take, because on June 16, 2026, child protection services took Leo from her.
"Child protection services arrived and took my son right from my arms."
According to Kristina, in December 2025, the approval for a residence permit, which she had been waiting for three years, arrived.
However, Christian, according to her claim, canceled this process, stating that she had allegedly caused him problems. He sent Kristina an email, calling it his "Christmas gift."
Later, she claims, her husband began regularly filing reports with child protection services, stating that she was a bad mother.
One day Kristina couldn't get out of bed due to severe back pain. According to her, she had previously undergone two spinal surgeries.
The court after that, Kristina says, left the son with her, but set new conditions: the time Leo would spend with his father was to gradually increase until it reached a "50/50" arrangement by December 2026.
After her back problems, child protection services began regularly visiting Kristina at home.
On June 16, 2026, the electricity in the apartment was disconnected.
— Christian, as it turned out, simply stopped paying the bills, and on June 16, our electricity was cut off. It was discovered that a debt of three thousand dollars had accumulated, which I had not even suspected. Understanding that child protection services might take the child due to the lack of electricity, I immediately contacted the charitable organization Casa C.A.F.I. asking them to find me a women's shelter.
However, according to her, she failed to save her son.
— On the same day, child protection services arrived and took him right from my arms.
Kristina claims that the lack of electricity was the only reason her child was taken from her.
Five days later, she returned home, cleaned the refrigerator, and lived without electricity for another month and a half until Christian paid the debt.
"I don't know how to live anymore."
All these events took place on the eve of a new court hearing. Citing her lawyer, Kristina says that her husband intends to completely deprive her of her parental rights.
Now, according to her, she can only see her son three times a week, and the child's handover takes place exclusively at a police station.
Every such meeting and farewell, Kristina says, "breaks both their hearts."
Since June 16, the woman claims, she knows almost nothing about her son's life. According to her, the boy was sent to kindergarten, but she is not given the institution's contact information.
— I don't know what he eats, where he sleeps. At first, I was allowed to see him three times a week from 9:00 to 18:00, without overnight stays. I started asking to have him for at least 40% of the time, as the court ordered, but child protection services just throw up their hands and don't explain anything.
Kristina says she really wants to return home to Belarus but cannot leave without her son.
— Without a residence permit, I risk never seeing him again. I don't know how to get out of this situation.
According to her, as a person who is effectively in Canada on a tourist status, she has very limited opportunities to receive help.
Among local organizations, Casa C.A.F.I. is helping her — a Latin American community that is trying to understand her situation with child protection services. According to the organization's representatives, Kristina says, a similar case is the first for them in 30 years of work.
— I still can't believe all this is happening to me and my child. It's truly terrifying. To not go insane and not be alone with my thoughts, I push myself to the limit: I volunteer, do morning exercises, delve into learning a foreign language — I do everything just so there's no time left for reflection.
— Not because I'm running away from problems. I simply have no more strength.
Kristina says she isn't giving up, even though she doesn't understand "how to play this cruel chess."
— I'm trapped. And I earnestly ask for help from the Republic of Belarus to simply return home to my parents, together with my son.
She asks the Belarusian authorities to use available diplomatic, consular, and legal mechanisms to have her situation investigated and to find a lawful way to resolve it in the child's best interests.
The editorial team also reached out to the boy's father for a comment. If he responds, his position will be published.
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