Fugitive former US city councillor enlists with Russia for war in Ukraine
A former city councillor and member of the Massachusetts national guard who is wanted in the US on child sexual abuse image charges has fled the country and joined the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.
Wilmer Puello-Mota, 28, former city councillor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, went missing on 7 January, two days before he was scheduled to appear in court in Rhode Island in possession of child sexual abuse images and obstruction of justice charges.
This week, Puello-Mota resurfaced at an enlistment centre in the Russian region of Khanty-Mansiysk in western Siberia, where he was captured on film signing a military contract, seated in a room adorned with photographs of Vladimir Putin and the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu
“An American signed a military contract at the patriots centre in Khanty-Mansiysk,” reads a message accompanying the video published by the region’s official channel on Telegram.
Prior to signing the contract with the Russian military, Puello-Mota appears to have fought as a volunteer alongside Russian troops during Moscow’s capture of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka in February.
That month, Russian pro-war channels circulated footage of a blurred figure in combat fatigues planting the US flag in the ruins of a Ukrainian city in support of Russia.
“I’m here to plant the US flag as a sign of friendship and support for all the things people are enduring here,” the person in the video said, his face blurred.
“I feel proud to be here.”
The Massachusetts-based newspaper the Republican said that people who know Puello-Mota had recognised his voice in the clip.
Appearing to confirm his participation in the battle for Avdiivka, Puello-Mota in the clip on Wednesday described previously fighting in Ukraine as part of the pro-Russian Pyatnashka international paramilitary group.
“I definitely would do it again,” he is heard saying.
Puello-Mota was first arrested in 2020 after police in Rhode Island discovered sexually explicit images of an underage girl on his phone. According to court documents, he told police that he thought the girl was 22, and only learned later that she was 17.
He was later charged with forgery, counterfeiting and obstruction of the judicial system after he allegedly told one of his commanders at the Massachusetts Air National Guard that the child sexual abuse image charges in Rhode Island were fake.
Puello-Mota is a former member of the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, according to the US regional Masslive outlet.
After failing to attend his court hearing, the Rhode Island attorney general’s office issued a statement saying Puello-Mota boarded a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul on 7 January.
“His whereabouts from that location are unknown,” the court said at the time.
Puello-Mota did not respond to a request for comment.
His Facebook page now features a picture of Puello-Mota in full military gear operating a drone while he lists his current job as the Russian defence ministry.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has introduced a series of laws to lure foreign citizens to join its ranks. Nationals from Cuba, Syria, Nepal and Serbia have all been deployed on the Russian side of the war.
But it is rare for fighters from the EU, UK or the US to join the Russian army. At least two British men are believed to be fighting with Russian forces in Ukraine.
Pro-war bloggers close to the Russian military and state media on Thursday made no mention of Puello-Mota’s fugitive status in the US, instead spinning his defection as a PR coup for Moscow.
“Will served in the US armed forces, but after realising what was really happening in Ukraine, he joined the war as a volunteer a few months ago. Together with the Russian guys, he liberated Avdeevka shoulder to shoulder,” the prominent pro-war blogger Yuri Kotenok wrote on telegram.
Another Russian report said: “[Puello-Mota] is staunchly convinced of the need to support Russia and admires the tenacity and heroism of our soldiers.”