‘Traitors!’ Brit duo fighting on the frontline for Russia
TWO British men fighting for Russia against Ukraine are facing calls to be arrested and jailed if they return here.
Ben Stimson, 48, Aiden Minnis, 37, are the first Britons known to be fighting in Ukraine for Vladimir Putin’s regime. In a video posted online this weekend, seen by the Mirror, Stimson and former National Front member Minnis posed in front of a Russian flag wearing military fatigues.
“Yes, yes, I’m back in Russia, I’m back in uniform,” he said before brandishing a Ukrainian grenade and adding: “We’ve got some British taxpayers’ returns.” In a separate video, he says: “Every man takes his choice. A lot of us, the foreign volunteers, have chosen to come over to this side, to the Russian side.”
Former British Army commander Colonel Richard Kemp has branded Stimson and his close friend Minnis traitors. “These two are an absolute disgrace and are traitors who upon their return to the UK should be arrested and jailed,” he told the Mirror. “These two traitors clearly don’t know who the enemy is.”
Stimson, from Oldham in Greater Manchester, has already spent time in prison here for supporting pro-Russia forces in Ukraine. He was jailed for terrorism offences after spending four months helping Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass region in 2015
Meanwhile, Stimson’s close friend Minnis, from Chippenham in Wiltshire, was reportedly convicted in 2006 of assaulting relatives of a driver whose dangerous driving led to the deaths of his cousin and girlfriend.
He reportedly assaulted a homeless man in 2008, when his lawyer is said to have told the court that Minnis “was a member of the National Front, a class A drug addict and an alcoholic by the age of 20.”
A photo shows Minnis holding semi-automatic weapons and wearing Russian army uniform, posing with an Irish flag. He told the Mirror: “My family heritage is from Ireland and I have Irish family. But also an ideological thing.”
A Home Office statement said: “Any person who travels to conflict zones to engage in unlawful activity, should expect to be investigated upon their return.”