A white man who was given a new liver from an African-American donor has claimed that his skin is starting to turn black since the operation.
Semen Gendler was in urgent need of a liver after he was diagnosed with hepatitis C and cancer.
The 65-year-old inventor was told by doctors his only hope was a liver transplant.
After speaking with contacts in the United States, he arranged to fly there from his home in Krasnodar in the Krasnodar Krai, south-western Russia, to have the operation.
No details have been given about the circumstances under which a Russian was eligible for a transplant in the United States, where there is reportedly a shortage of donors.
However, an insider said it could be possible if he had a home the US, and there were options of having a partial liver transplant from a living donor or accepting a non-ideal liver which would make a transplant easier to obtain.
Mr Gendler said: "Russian doctors made it quite clear to me that if I didn't have a liver transplant I would not live.
"I do a lot of business in the US with partners in New York, and I asked them to help me arrange for the operation where if you have enough money it is possible to do it more quickly than in Russia.
"Fortunately I was able to afford the cost of the $500,000 [£325,000] operation, in Russia I would have had to wait too long for a donor."
He said that he had been initially delighted at having the liver of a 38-year-old and added that it had given him a new lease of life.
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