My husband and I are Russian citizens. Our child was born in Ukraine and received a birth certificate in Ukrainian. Prior to departure to Ukraine we visited our civil records office to get a consultation concerning documents we will need to obtain; we were told that we will need a notarized translation of the certificate in Ukrainian. Upon return to Russia we applied to a civil records office for the purpose of obtaining a Russian birth certificate but were refused. Civil records officers said that we would have to use the Ukrainian certificate with the translation into Russian until the child receives a passport. Are they right? We also took legal advice, a lawyer advised us to obtain an apostille but we didn't understand for which purposes.
An apostille is an international stamp necessary for ensuring document's validity in foreign countries (provided for by the Hague Convention of October 05, 1961). But an apostille is not required for relationships between Russia and Ukraine as according to Minsk Convention of 1993 a notarized translation of a document into Russian is valid in the territory of Russia. Second state registration of birth in the territory of Russia is not possible as the fact of birth has already been registered by Ukrainian authorities.
