A dad believed that his wife had cheated on him because his daughter looked nothing like either of him. But 38 years later they discovered that the baby had accidentally been switched at birth. Now Alyona Romanova has spoken out after finally discovering who her biological mother is.

Gulsina Baimurzina and Alyona Baulina’s parents suspected they weren’t their biological children but the horrifying hospital mix up wasn’t confirmed until nearly four decades later.

Alyona and Gulsina Kudryakova had been raised by the wrong parents following a mix-up at a Soviet hospital in 1982.

The newborns were given the wrong tags, a mistake which left them “heartbroken” and feeling “robbed” of their real families.

Alyona revealed that the woman who raised her, Valentina Baulina, 78, was constantly accused of cheating – even by her own husband.

Alyona has distinctly Asian features while the parents who raised her were Slavic-looking.

She told The Sun: “The neighbours’ gossip really hurt me. I knew my mum, who raised me, was decent, but there had been rumours since my birth.

“I caught them as soon as I was old enough to understand things in my childhood. Women in the shared bathhouse discussed it and told my mum that I did not take after her.”

The mum decided to squash the doubt and contacted a DNA show on Russia’s NTV channel.

Alyona took it upon herself to try and track down the family in the village of Pokrovka. But her hopes of a happy reunion were dashed as the door was shut in her face.

“When I came to my mother for the first time, her family did not accept me, they kicked me out,” she said.

“She started yelling, she did not believe me and was nervous. Vasilya was saying it was all lies, she did not believe in it.”

Still, she and Gulsina added each other on social media – but barely communicated until years later.

This friendship eventually led them to the TV show which confirmed what Alyona had always suspected.

The families have now received an apology from the hospital, but it has a sting in the tail.

Chief doctor at Kizilsky maternity hospital, Alla Vasilyeva, said: “It is very difficult to swap children at the maternity hospital. Not just difficult, it is impossible.”

She gave an elaborate explanation of how tags on the babies could not be confused, but none of the medical staff involved remain at the hospital, or are even alive still.

The doctor said: “It is a disgrace if this really happened. These are human lives and destinies.”