Moscow wades into case of missing British boy, three – saying Putin’s regime must ‘do everything possible’ to protect Russian’s mother right to keep the boy if she has spirited him away to Russia

Moscow has waded into the case of a missing British boy, three, amid fears the child has been ‘kidnapped’ by his Russian mother.

A state media pundit has declared that the boy is ‘Russian’ and demanded the Putin regime should ‘do everything possible’ to ‘protect the mother’s right’ to be with the child.

Little Oliver Pugh is the subject of a major police search after going missing from Marbella, on the Costa del Sol. The boy has a British father and Russian mother, now separated.

The family had lived in Spain and a court order was in place banning the child being removed from the country.

Spanish police fear Oliver has been taken from Spain to Russia where he is out of reach of the boy’s father.

There has been no official comment from the Russian authorities as to whether the child is in the country.

But Kremlin-funded Russian state propaganda media columnist Vladimir Kornilov said today on his Telegram channel: ‘It is suspected that she [the mother] took her son to Russia. This, of course, is not yet a fact. 

 Little Oliver Pugh is the subject of a major police search after going missing from Marbella, on the Costa del Sol

The boy has a British father and Russian mother, now separated. The family had lived in Spain and a court order was in place banning the child being removed from the country.

Kremlin-funded Russian state propaganda media columnist Vladimir Kornilov (pictured) said today on his Telegram channel: ‘It is suspected that she [the mother] took her son to Russia. This, of course, is not yet a fact

‘But if this is indeed the case, it seems to me that we must do everything possible to protect the mother’s right to be with her Russian child!

‘Well, if London can call him British, why can’t I call him Russian by the same logic?’

He asked: ‘How [do] you determine that the boy is British if his mother might think otherwise?’

If Oliver and his mother are located in Russia, it’s likely that both British and Spanish authorities will have no power to make her return with the child.

Although they can order an extradition – the process by which wanted people are recalled – it’s unlikely Moscow would honour the request.

This is because Russia does not have extradition treaties with either Spain or the UK.

Oliver is described as 2ft 7in tall, and has blond hair and distinctive grey eyes.

Spain’s National Police have asked for anyone with information to contact them.

A spokesman said: ‘We are treating this as a parental abduction.

‘We believe the mother has left Spain and has taken the boy to her homeland, which is Russia.’

Neither the mother nor the father has been named.

The Foreign Office is ‘supporting the family of a British child who has been reported missing in Spain’.

Diplomats are in contact with the Spanish authorities.

It is not immediately clear if the boy has joint Russian citizenship, nor whether an international arrest warrant has been issued for the mother.

Russia always refuses to extradite its own citizens.

The boy disappeared on 4 July 2025.