LONDON, October 8 (RIA Novosti) - British minister for energy and climate change Ed Miliband unexpectedly discovered a long-lost Russian relative during his recent visit to Moscow, British media reports have said.
Sofia Davidovna Miliband, 86, called the popular Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy while Miliband was on air on Tuesday.
Miliband was just preparing to answer a journalist's question on CO2 emissions and melting permafrost, when a voice came on the line, saying: "I am Sofia Davidovna Miliband, I am your relative; I am the only one left," the BBC reported.
Both Miliband and the host of the show suspected a hoax. To resolve the issue, Miliband called his mother, who set the record straight.
Ed Miliband's great-great-grandfather and Sofia Miliband's grandfather were brothers, who, together with their families, lived in Warsaw in the early 20th century. Ed Miliband's grandfather Samuel left Poland for Belgium in 1920, and then, during the WWII Nazi occupation, moved to Britain together with his son Ralf, Ed Miliband's father.
Meanwhile the other half of the Miliband clan had come east - to Moscow.
Miliband found time to meet with his long-lost great aunt. It turned out that Sofia Davidovna was once a leading expert on Iran at the Moscow School of Oriental Studies. She has no children.
The minister told the BBC that his relative was "an amazing woman".
"I did sort of vaguely know when I was a boy about her existence," he said, adding "I've always slightly wondered about her ever since I was a kid, it was amazing for me to come face to face with her."
Sofia Davidovna will not have to wait long to meet another member of the Miliband clan. Ed's older brother David, the British foreign minister, is due to visit Moscow in the near future.
