Queensland guard who joined Russia's army missing in Ukraine, feared dead

Fladung's mother says she has had no contact with her only child since late June, and unconfirmed reports spreading online claim he was killed by a drone strike within days of posting that he was being sent into combat. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would not confirm whether it holds any information about his disappearance. She agreed to speak to ABC Investigations on condition of anonymity: 'I just want to know if my son's alive.'

The Queenslander is the first Australian known to have joined the Russian army since the full-scale invasion in 2022. ABC Investigations reports he flew one way to Moscow in April, where two Putin-supporting British nationals, Ben Stimson and Bradley Townsend, met him at the airport. A Russian army document seen by the ABC shows he signed his military contract on April 29.

Townsend, 33, was reportedly killed by a drone in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region just 10 days before Fladung vanished. Ukrainian authorities allege Stimson sits at the centre of an English-speaking network that lures and trains foreign fighters for Russia; he has been in the war since 2015 with pro-Russian rebels, served a UK prison sentence for terror offences, reportedly received Russian citizenship this year and is a member of Vladimir Putin's United Russia party. Stimson denies luring Fladung, telling the ABC he met him at the airport to collect two jars of Vegemite and then introduced him to a recruiter. 'I'm not a recruiter,' he said.

His mother says she spent three hours the night before he left arguing against what she called a stupid decision, and didn't believe he would go through with it. She says her son worked a decade as a security officer and had been living with her rent-free in a rural town west of Brisbane — depressed, withdrawn and 'in debt up to his eyeballs'. Diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, he could become fixated on certain things, and she believes a man he met playing online war games convinced him Russia was the answer.

On Telegram, Fladung posted a photo of himself in camouflage holding an assault rifle at a training camp, and sat for a pro-Russia podcast interview titled 'Fed Up with the West!' with Mike Jones, a former British soldier turned Russian marine who promotes a website offering recruits salaries, signing bonuses and citizenship. In June he wrote that he had injured his left knee and heel and was being sent to fight without more training: 'I have been told im going to frontline storm tomorrow night or the day after.' He gave Jones the contact details of his Russian girlfriend, Marina, 'just in case'; she told the ABC they matched on an international marriage dating site six months ago but never met in person.

His mother says he believed he could walk away from the Russian army whenever he wanted, but she noticed an armed guard in the pictures he sent. 'I don't think he really realised what he was doing or what he got himself into,' she said. A BBC investigation found earlier this year that more than 3,500 foreign fighters from over 40 countries have died fighting for Russia in Ukraine.