Schröders adopt Russian girl, three from Russia

Germany's mass-circulation Bild newspaper was almost beside itself with glee yesterday after revealing that Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his wife Doris had adopted a three-year-old Russian girl who had been living with the couple for more than a fortnight.

Germany's mass-circulation Bild newspaper was almost beside itself with glee yesterday after revealing that Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his wife Doris had adopted a three-year-old Russian girl who had been living with the couple for more than a fortnight.

The 60-year-old chancellor and his 41-year-old wife were reported to have flown to a children's home in St Petersburg last month, where they formally adopted Victoria. She joins the couple's other child, Klara, 13, who is from Doris Schröder-Kopf's relationship with a television journalist.

"It is the most moving story of the year," claimed Bild. "The adoption was so secret that even the Chancellor's bodyguards were kept in the dark about it until only an hour before the Schröders flew home as a family of four."

Sources in Mr Schröder's governing Social Democratic Party confirmed that the adoption had taken place, but the Berlin Chancellery refused to comment. The marriage to Doris is Mr Schröder's fourth. He has repeatedly expressed concern for needy children during his visits to Russia. The Schröders are believed to have arranged the adoption during a visit by President Vladimir Putin and his wife Ludmilla to the Chancellor's home in Hanover in April.

St Petersburg is Mr Putin's native city, and last year Mrs Schröder-Kopf became a patron of a charity there for disadvantaged children.

The disclosure was a setback for the Schröders, who have been fighting a losing battle with Bild over privacy rights.