Kathrine Frich
His mother insists her son never went there seeking combat.
Moving abroad for love is supposed to be the start of a quiet new chapter.
People pack their bags, build a home, and send reassuring updates back to their parents.
For one British family, however, those routine messages hid a terrifying secret.
A secret enlistment
According to the BBC, 30-year-old Briton Nathan Stobbart relocated to Russia on Christmas Day in 2024 to marry a woman named Ksenia, whom he had met online.
Together, they raised a newborn baby alongside her three older children. Back home, his mother Valerie believed he was working safely as an electrical installer.
Then came December 2025. Ksenia sent a message revealing that Nathan had actually joined the Russian military in April to fight against Ukraine, and that he was now missing.
“Suddenly, you find out he’s disappeared. He’s completely vanished,” Valerie told the BBC according to O2. A Russian military document cited by the broadcaster confirmed he was officially declared missing on December 12, 2025, and no body has ever been found.
Forced to choose
Why would a new father walk into a war zone? According to Valerie’s account to the BBC, Russian officials threatened to deny her son residency and deport him unless he signed up for a year of military service.
While theBBC notes that other Britons like Ben Stimson and Aiden Minnis have also fought for Moscow, Valerie insists her son never went there seeking combat.
She does not back his choice to serve Russia, yet she sees the trap he was in. “He was so desperate to stay with his family that he would do anything,” she said.
Before deploying, Nathan even filmed a goodbye video for his wife in case he died. His mother could only bear to watch it once.
Holding onto hope
For months, Valerie has pushed for answers from aid groups and the British Foreign Office. UK officials confirmed to the BBC that they are supporting the family, though their power to help in such cases is tightly limited, and Moscow has shared nothing about where he vanished.
The ordeal even cost Valerie her job. Formerly an asylum officer, she told the BBC she was fired after speaking to a reporter about her son, a claim the government ministry declined to comment on.
Still, she believes Nathan was captured alive and watches every prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine. “Every day I think the phone will ring and someone will say, ‘We found him,'” she said.
