The schoolboy son of a woman who was hit by a road sign while hanging topless out of a car window and killed still doesn’t know his mum is dead.
Harrowing footage of the tragic death of Natalia Borodina, 35, during a holiday in the Dominican Republic went viral this week.
But her son, 11 – who was staying with her sister Yulia Artemova, 42, in Voronezh, Russia, at the time – has still not been told of her death.
Natalia’s ex-husband Alexandr Palagushkin, 37, and his father, a rear admiral in Putin’s naval reserve, are now battling for custody of the lad, who he fears will be put in an orphanage.
Palagushkin, 37 – an academic who had studied in London – told Ren TV: “The childcare people have already called.
“It’s helpful that my father is a rear admiral.
“They have already said, ‘Do you know the mother is dead? Why is the child not with the father?’
“So, if I don’t take him now, they will get him.
“And even with my father’s connections it will take me time to get him out of some orphanage.”
Palagushkin said he had met with his ex-wife in Europe.
It is not clear what she was did for a living, with some reports claiming she worked as an estate agent in Cannes, France, and others saying she assisted with visa access for Russians.
He said: “I have no idea what she was doing.
“I live in Novosibirsk, I am a senior tutor. And my father is deputy dean of Novosibirsk State University of Water Transport.
“He is a rear-admiral.
“She told me she provided visa support for Russian tourists in Cannes.”
Cops have now reportedly identified the road sign that killed Natalia and detained her 32-year-old alleged companion Ivanna Boirachuk, from Ukraine.
Tyre marks evidently show the dented red Kia Picanto car butted the yellow kerb at the moment of the tragic accident.
Boirachuk is said to have used her mobile to film her pal letting her upper body hang out of the passenger side car window as they drove back from the beach near Punta Cana.
Natalia can be seen laughing in the moments before the sickening impact.
She was rushed to hospital but died of severe injuries.
Grieving pals called Natalia a “caring daughter and good mother”.
Now the bereft family say they cannot afford the cost – reportedly around £15,000 – of repatriating her body for burial in Russia.
Her friend Elena Korolyova said Natalia did everything she could for her family.
She said: “She helped her poor family with everything.
“She wanted to get everything, she was hoping for a better future.”
Family friend Anzhelika Kling said: “Natalia has a sister Yulia who lives in Chelyabinsk region, as does her 80-year-old mother.
“Yulia is raising her own son and she also took care of Natalia’s 11-year-old son when she was away.
“They don’t have the money needed to pay for the transportation
