British traitors fighting for Putin in Ukraine branded an 'absolute disgrace' as Army heroes call for pair to be jailed
27 March 2024, 08:22 | Updated: 27 March 2024, 10:22
British traitors fighting for Putin in Ukraine have been branded an "absolute disgrace", with Army heroes calling for them to be jailed.
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Ben Stimson, 48, shared several clips from the frontline over the weekend, showing off his military gear and waving around a Russian flag.
He fled to Donetsk in February to fight for Vladimir Putin, and has since joined the Pyatnashka brigade.
"Yes, yes, I'm back in Russia, I'm back in uniform," he said in one video.
He then produced an unexploded grenade shell used by Ukraine, adding: "We’ve got some British taxpayers’ returns."
In another video, he said: "Every man takes his choice... a lot of us, the foreign volunteers, have chosen to come over to this side, to the Russian side."
Stimson's "best British friend in the Russian army" is 37-year-old Aiden Minnis, a previous convict and former National Front member from Chippenham.
He is now a “sapper in the Russian army”, he told the Mirror.
The pair are the first Brits known to be fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
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Stimson and Minnis could face prison if and when they return to the UK like the British jihadis who joined ISIS in Syria.
Former British Army commander Colonel Richard Kemp said: “These two are an absolute disgrace and are traitors who upon their return to the UK should be arrested and jailed.”
He added: "These two traitors clearly don’t know who the enemy is."
Stimson has shared videos of himself walking through a muddy field, passing land mines and digging up a hand grenade.
He was previously jailed for terror offences after helping Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas region for four months in 2015.
He told friends he had gone over to do humanitarian work but later admitted in an interview that he had become a “soldier of the new Russia” after reading propaganda online.
Manchester Crown Court was told in 2017 that Stimson did not fight during his time in eastern Ukraine.
He went on to admit on social media that he took part in the 2015 Battle of Debaltseve.
Before heading back to Russia in February, Stimson posted: "I'm ready to go now, bags packed. I just hope the British police don't arrest me and make something up or twist things to incriminate me on something that does not exist."
He was able to fly to Moscow via Istanbul, despite being detained and questioned at Manchester Airport.
Stimson is understood to be on a three-month visa which runs out on May 17. He had remained off the radar until he shared a clip on Saturday captioned: "Back to Russia with love."
