{"id":11318,"date":"2024-03-27T17:21:23","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T17:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/27\/briton-who-flew-to-join-russian-forces-in-ukraine-insists-he-is-not-a-terrorist\/"},"modified":"2024-03-27T17:21:23","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T17:21:23","slug":"briton-who-flew-to-join-russian-forces-in-ukraine-insists-he-is-not-a-terrorist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/27\/briton-who-flew-to-join-russian-forces-in-ukraine-insists-he-is-not-a-terrorist\/","title":{"rendered":"Briton who flew to join Russian forces in Ukraine insists he is ‘not a terrorist’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Briton<\/div>


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A British man who flew to Russia to fight alongside Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine has insisted he is “not a terrorist”.<\/p>\n

Ben Stimson filmed himself dressed in Russian combat gear and flaunted a grenade apparently looted from Ukrainian forces.<\/p>\n

He has posted footage appearing to show foreign fighters walking past dead bodies in the war zone – as well as a road trip out of occupied Mariupol.<\/p>\n

Follow latest: Death toll in concert attack rises to 140<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Yes, I’m back in Russia and I’m back in uniform,” he says in one video, insisting that he believes what he is doing is right in another.<\/p>\n

It not his first stint in Ukraine<\/a><\/strong>, having spent four months in the Donbas region with pro-Russian militia in 2015 – a trip he summed up as “vodka, women and guns”.<\/p>\n

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\n Ben Stimson waves a captured Ukrainian grenade. Pic: Ben Stimson
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Upon his return to the UK he was convicted of a terror offence and jailed for more than five years.<\/p>\n

A judge accepted that Stimson did not “actually engage in any fighting” during that time in Ukraine “and had intended to perform humanitarian work”, despite him being pictured holding an AK-47.<\/p>\n

Now, it seems, Stimson is back with Russian forces once again.<\/p>\n

He is believed to have flown out to Russia<\/a><\/strong> possibly via a third country in late February.<\/p>\n

In pictures posted to social media, Stimson claims to have been detained at a UK airport under the Terrorism Act and had phones and a laptop confiscated, but later said on 25 February he had made it to Moscow.<\/p>\n

If he returns to the UK, Stimson could once again face investigation and possible imprisonment.<\/p>\n

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\n A foreign fighter in what is reported to be the Donbas region of Ukraine. Pic: Ben Stimson
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Read more:
Russia will not stop with Ukraine – US ambassador<\/a>
Kangaroo killed in shelling on Russian zoo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Every man takes his choice,” he says in a video. “A lot of us chose to come over to this side… to the Russian side, because we believe what we’re doing [is] right.<\/p>\n

“It’s easy to call someone a terrorist,” he adds. “We do what we believe is right… I am not a f****** terrorist. Remember that.”<\/p>\n

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He also filmed himself holding up a grenade apparently captured from Ukrainian forces – taunting viewers back home that it had been paid for by UK taxpayers.<\/p>\n

Another British man is also with Russian forces in Ukraine, according to reports.<\/p>\n

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A government spokesperson said: “The government’s priority remains maintaining the safety and security of the UK.<\/p>\n

“Any person who travels from the UK to conflict zones to engage in unlawful activity, should expect to be investigated upon their return.”<\/p>\n

Additional OSINT reporting by Olive Enokido-Lineham<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A British man who flew to Russia to fight alongside Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine has insisted he is “not a terrorist”. Ben Stimson filmed himself dressed in Russian combat gear and flaunted a grenade apparently looted from Ukrainian forces. He has posted footage appearing to show foreign fighters walking past dead bodies in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/03\/768x432\/skynews-russia-ukraine_6502434.png?20240327140427","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16532,16533,2328,3532,1895,1461,16534,1130],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11320,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11318\/revisions\/11320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}