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Russian forces capture 'former British soldier' fighting for Ukraine - media
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. A 22-year-old who served as a signalman in the British Army until 2023, has reportedly been captured in Russia’s Kursk Region while fighting alongside the Ukrainian International Legion, which consists of foreign recruits considered mercenaries by Moscow, RT reports.
Russian forces captured the individual, identified as James Scott Rhys Anderson, near the village of Plekhovo, approximately 5km inside Russian territory, according to Russian state media reports. Several videos of his interrogation have been published by Russian Telegram channels.
Anderson stated that he served in the British Army as a signalman in the 1st Signal Brigade, 22 Signal Regiment, 252 Squadron from 2019 to 2023. After leaving the military, he apparently faced financial difficulties and decided to join Kiev’s International Legion after seeing an advertisement on TV.
“It was a stupid idea,” RT quoted the British man as saying. “I had just lost everything – my job, and my dad was away in prison.”
He said he applied online to join the Ukrainian foreign mercenary force, then flew from London to Krakow, Poland, before taking a bus to Medyka on the Ukraine border. Asked how he ended up fighting on Russian soil, Anderson claimed in another video that his commanders sent him there against his will.
“I don’t want to be here,” he told the interrogators, insisting that his commanders took his “s**t,” including his passport and smartphone, and told him to “get into the car.”
The UK Ministry of Defense has declined to comment on the capture of the former serviceman, while the Foreign Office said it is “supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention,” according to The Guardian.
Earlier this month, the family of a 22-year-old British man from Gunnislake, Cornwall disclosed that he had been killed while fighting for Kiev at an “undisclosed location” less than two months after his birthday.
Published by Armenpress, original at https://armenpress.am/en/article/1205844?fbclid=IwY2xjawGyPPZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHfYSJL3HZ07vMBEHbaubyiLhX_ivxWIL4WtxXBChX6cso16zk84OonvOCw_aem_UfW5fb4pG7HPGii9l_b9lQ