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Two British men revealed to be fighting for Putin in Ukraine

March 27th 2024

A former British Army commander has slammed two Brits as a ‘disgrace’ for taking up arms and fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. Ben Stimson, 48, and Aiden Minnis, 37, both fled to the Donetsk region to join Vladimir Putin’s forces and posted a video bragging about it. They are the first two British men known to be fighting for Putin, with Stimson, from Oldham, Manchester, saying in the video: ‘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 told the Mirror: ‘These two are an absolute disgrace and are traitors who upon their return to the UK should be arrested and jailed. ‘These two traitors clearly don’t know who the enemy is.’ Stimson first went to Ukraine in 2015, when he fought alongside Russian separatists in the Donbas region. He was arrested upon his arrival back in the UK and jailed for five years. Upon his release last June, locals who knew Stimson said he was ‘homeless and using heroin’ before heading back to Russia to fight. Before he left for Russia again, he 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 arrested upon arrival at Manchester Airport, but was still allowed to fly to Moscow through Istanbul. Stimson’s father Martin, 76, is a folk singer and former town councillor who initially supported his son in 2017, before later disowning him. Martin said of his mercenary son: ‘I’ve cut him off. Before I cut him off he was in Moscow. I’ve been looking after Ben on and off for years and years. He’s on his own now. He’s 48 now, he can do what he wants. ‘He’s been a constant worry. I want a bit of peace at my age. You never know what he’ll do next.’

SOURCE = Metro News

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‘He’s no fighter – him being in the army is ridiculous’: Disgusted father condemns British ‘traitor’ son who joined Putin’s soldiers in fight against Ukraine

March 27th 2024

The father of a British ‘traitor’ who joined the Russian army to fight against Ukraine has today condemned his son – saying ‘he’s no fighter’. Ben Stimson travelled to war-torn Donetsk to take up arms for Putin’s marauding forces – with his father claiming his son told him he was travelling there to become a teaching assistant. Martin Stimson, a former local councillor and Morris dancer, told how he has washed his hands of his son after discovering the truth – which he said came after years of difficult behaviour including issues with drugs. Mr Stimson said his troubled son had previously been living with him for nearly eight months, after leaving prison. He then told him he had been offered a teaching assistant job in Russia and so left the UK in February where he instead took up arms for Putin.

Stimson had previously joined pro-Russian militia forces in the Donbass region in 2015 and was jailed for five years when he returned to Britain in 2017. He is currently fighting Ukrainian soldiers with Russia’s Pyatnashka brigade, made up of mainly foreign mercenaries. But speaking today from his home near Oldham his father told MailOnline: ‘He’s no fighter….he’s just bonkers. ‘He’s not a violent person at all and never has been, so the idea of him being in the army is slightly ridiculous really. ‘He never wanted to join the British Army, he was more of an eco-warrior type who went to protests and climbed up trees.. that sort of thing. ‘He came out of prison last year and was staying here on and off while he found somewhere to live, but he couldn’t find anywhere affordable and at one point he was living rough in Manchester.

‘When he was at home he was like a hermit, just stayed upstairs room in his room. ‘He told me a few months ago that he was going to start a new life in Spain, and then it was Turkey and then he said he’d been offered a teaching assistant job in Russia. ‘He’s always liked Russia so he left.’ Mr Stimson Senior says it wasn’t until friends started telling him that they had seen images of his son in army fatigues that he realised he had joined up again. He added: ‘By the time he’d left, we were increasingly not getting on and I couldn’t do with his presence in the house really.

SOURCE = The Daily Mail

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Oldham father’s ‘horror’ as son fights for Putin a second time

March 27th 2024

A father has spoken of his “horror” after his son, who was jailed in the UK for fighting for Putin has returned to Ukraine after his release. Ben Stimson, from Oldham, along with Aiden Minnis, from Wiltshire, are understood to be in the Donbas region, which is under Russian occupation. Stimson was previously jailed in the UK in 2015 for joining pro-Russian separatists in the east of Ukraine. Stimson’s father said he had cut communication with his son. In a video posted to Youtube, Stimson 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.”

The BBC spoke to Mr Stimson’s father, Martin Stimson, who said he had cut off all communication with his son and was “horrified” at hearing he was fighting for Russia. He said: “I have no control over him, he’s a 48-year-old man.” Minnis, from Chippenham, had previously been jailed for assault and was linked to the far-right National Front. The two men were believed to be the first British nationals fighting for Russian president Vladimir Putin since he ordered the full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Philip Ingram, a former senior British military intelligence officer, told BBC North West Tonight that the decision to fight for Russia was “signing your own death warrant”.

SOURCE = BBC News