Two women have discovered that they were raised by the wrong families after being swapped at birth.
They didnt know the dark secret until they appeared on a TV show in Russia where their DNA was taken.
Svetlana Gachegova and Ekaterina (Katya) Naidenko, both 28, were close to one another as they grew up, sitting next to each other in class and going to each others homes for sleepovers.
As a child, Svetlana became very close to Ekaterinas older sister Lyuba – friends called them two Dolly the sheep – and now DNA tests prove they are in fact blood sisters.
Footage from Russian channel NTV shows Svetlana hugging her emotional real mother Valentina Naidenko, 66, seconds after the shocking DNA findings are revealed by presenter Viktor Kalgutin, a professor of forensic medicine.
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But the discovery of the Soviet maternity hospital blunder has caused anguish for the two women.
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For Ekaterina, a mother of two, there is the agony of finding out that she is not related to the four siblings and loving parents she grew up with, and especially that Valentina is not her real mother.
Both her blood parents are now dead so she can never be acknowledged or embraced by them.
She admits to being upset and confused by the discovery on a Russian TV show.
Svetlana, a mother of one whose married name is Yakimenko, also appears jarred by the discovery and said bluntly: I would like to forget this DNA test.
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While she has remained close to Lyuba, 29, since childhood, she was shaken that the woman she believed was her elder sister – Aleftina – is not related to her at all.
Svetlana said: I still do not believe it has happened to me. It feels like Ive been watching a movie.
A tearful Valentina said: Katya (Ekaterina) grew up differently compared with my other four children.
She was a roly-poly child – not slim like others, but I was happy she was healthy. I did not really suspect anything but other people did…
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He loved Ekaterina – now a shop assistant – like his other children but died last year from cancer not knowing the suspicions were true.
Svetlana, a dental nurse and mother of one, grew up in neighbouring village Kichanovo, in the family of Raisa and Valentin Gachegov, both now dead, with sister Aleftina.
Katya and I had many common friends, and we often spent time togetherm said Svetlana.
We loved the fact that we were born on the same day, it was rather fun. I often came to see her at home and stayed for sleepovers.
I was a good friend of her elder sister Lyuba — and they still visit each other. Friends often said that Lyuba looked so much like Svetlana – and found it surprising.
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We laughed – who could imagine that Lyuba was my real sister and not Katyas?
There was speculation when the girls grew up, but there were no available DNA tests at the time, and it died down when they left home.
Several years ago Raisas eldest daughter Aleftina moved to Kichanovo village, and locals started gossiping on her likeness to Ekaterina.
This speculation was driving me mad, said Valentina.
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She watched other TV shows about swapped babies being discovered decades later thanks to DNA tests.
She contacted a NTV channel show called DNA that had previously unmasked horrific baby swaps.
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As a result, their samples were taken – and the results proved a grievous error by Siva maternity hospital staff in November 1989.
It is now deemed too long after the event to determine who was to blame.
I am happy that I now know, said Valentina. Svetlana is my daughter. And Katya is my daughter too, this is how it is, she said.
I raised her, I love her children – my grandchildren. I am not going to say that she is not my family.
When the truth was revealed, Valentina visited their graves of the Grachegovs to thank them for loving and raising her daughter.
Ekaterina said she was upset and confused and had been disorientated when she first realised her likeness to Aleftina.
But she insists that she still thinks of Valentina as her mother.
She said: My mother (Valentina) was constantly worried about (the feeling that we had been swapped), so I just wanted to help her (find out the truth).
I wanted her to calm down, so I did everything to help her. But I never had any doubts that I was her daughter.
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People used to say it right to my face that I was not like my mother. I did not mind it, I was always loved by my mother, as a child I liked to sleep with her so much…
I got all possible love from my parents. I was one of five children and we had everything.
I did hear about such swapping cases – but I was always sure that it could happen here, only in big cities, not in our village.
Before they test result, Svetlana was adamant that it could not be true that she was swapped – even though friends had nicknamed her and Lyuba as two Dolly the sheep.
After she heard the verdict in the TV show, she found it hard to cope with.
I dont know what I feel now, she said. I think very well of aunt Valentina as I call her… but I had my own mother, Im sorry.
I would like to forget this DNA test… I want Aleftina to be my sister.
I know it has all been proved now, but I just dont believe it.
The shows DNA tests also proved that Valentina and her daughter Ekaterina were not related.
They showed Valentina is the biological mother of Svetlana, and that Ekaterina and Aleftina are biological sisters.
Svetlana and Aleftina were shown to be unrelated.
The swapped women and Valentina now intend to take legal action against the regional health ministry.
They will each demand compensation for moral damages of 10 million roubles – or £120,000 – but in a series of such cases in Russia, courts have been reluctant to offer more than minimal compensation.
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