ENGLISH TRAITOR FIGHTING FOR RUSSIA AGAINST UKRAINE SAYS HE IS 'PREPARED TO DIE' FOR PUTIN'S FORCES AFTER BEING DISOWNED BY HIS FAMILY

• Aiden Minnis believes he is 'doing the Lord's work' by fighting in Putin's army
• He hailed his fellow Russian soldiers as 'brothers' and is 'willing to die' for them

The English traitor fighting as a mercenary for Russia is 'willing to die' for Putin's forces and believes he is 'doing the Lord's work' by fighting the illegal war in Ukraine, it has emerged.

Aiden Minnis, 37, joined the Russian army in January and, despite being disowned by his family and friends in the UK, continues to brag about his life on the frontline, which allegedly involves 'laying landmines and explosives' that kill Ukrainian soldiers.

The Wiltshire native has now claimed that his proudest moment since enlisting was 'swearing an oath to Russia and standing with my unit as the national anthem played', The Mirror reported.

Minnis, a former member of the far-right National Front with a conviction for a racist attack, said he plans to live but is 'prepared to die for the cause if necessary'.

He also has no plans to return to Britain after he completing his service in Putin's army, noting he 'would be arrested on return'. He says he is currently in the process of obtaining Russian citizenship.

Minnis and his fellow mercenary Ben Stimson, 48, have been branded traitors by a former British Army commander for fighting alongside Putin's regular troops.

Minnis, in a social media post, described himself as a 'sapper' - or combat engineer - in the Russian army and praised Putin. He also self-identified as a 'Z Patriot' and shared photos in which he is dressed in army fatigues.

The mercenary said his role in the army involves 'anything from technical work, to laying mines and explosives'.

He thinks Putin is the 'greatest politician on earth and of the past century', he has claimed, and believes by fighting in his army that he is 'securing victory for Russia and by default the citizens of the rest of the world'.

He also claimed that Ukraine is 'mass murdering' its own citizens and slammed the West for 'arming and funding the mass murder of ethnic Russians'.

Although he doesn't speak any Russian, Minnis said his fellow soldiers are 'my brothers' and that 'I get on really well with them'.

'I trust them and I will die for them. They have proven themselves and helped me a lot,' he said, adding that despite the language barrier, 'we understand each other. A bit of pidgin English and pidginRussian and sign language. It gets done.'

It comes as the 37-year-old has been disowned by his Wiltshire-based family. 

A family friend said his mother Tina, from Chippenham, was not even aware that Minnis was fighting on the front line.

'She has nothing to do with him, she has disowned him and they do not speak,' the friend told MailOnline yesterday.

'I don't think she will ever want to talk about him. She wants nothing to do with him and they have not spoken or had contact for years.'

The friend added: 'I don't believe she was even aware he was away fighting. This is all news to her.'

Minnis and Stimson both face arrest if they ever return to the UK - which Minnis claims he has no intention of doing.

'I will stay here,' he said, according to the Mirror. 'I would be arrested on return for serving in the Russian army and in the Donbass. I'm in the process of obtaining a Russian passport as we speak. I will be a Russian citizen.' 

He acknowledged that by fighting in the Donbass he is a 'mercenary' and that being involved in combat would 'make me a war criminal in their eyes'. 

Minnis decided to join Putin's army in 2022 while he was homeless and living in Chippenham's Unity House hostel.

He went to Russia in early 2023 to join a unit but said 'I didn't prepare myself correctly, so went home, and came out in December last year'.

He revealed that on his initial journey he didn't pack properly, mentally prepare or 'take care of things back home properly'.

'I went into it blind,' he said of his initial attempt, but reiterated that the second time around he was prepared.

He explained: 'I made sure I had a Russian phone, bank account. I didn't last time, so didn't sign the contract. I got a Russian visa and got a flight, but I had contacts there who arranged everything.'

He added that police tried to detain him under Section 7 of the Terrorism Act while he travelled to Russia but claims that although they knew what he was doing, they 'didn't have the evidence to arrest me for it'.

Minnis had a long record of arrests for violence when he appeared before Swindon Crown Court in December 2008 where he was jailed for four years after launching an unprovoked racist attack on Darren McMillan.

McMillan was smashed over the head with a bottle of port having had racist insults hurled at him as he attempted to walk away from the violent thug in the early hours of the morning.

Prosecutor Claire Marlow told the court how the race attack left his victim needing nine staples in a head wound.

She said he had been out in Chippenham and Bath and was walking home at 3am when he noticed two men walking towards him and heard them starting to shout racial abuse.

'At first he was not bothered but as they got closer he took out his mobile phone and started to call the police,' she said.

'He recalls being on the phone to the operator when he heard one say 'Yeah, you get help' and use more racial abuse.

'As he went along he felt himself being stuck to the back of the head by something hard. He fell to the ground still connected to the operator.'

A court report from 2008 revealed the man who was with Minnis called the police to tell them how he had seen him strike the victim with a bottle of port he had been drinking from.

Two months after the assault Minnis robbed a man of his wallet and attempted to rob another, punching him in the face.

He was also arrested months later for assaulting a homeless man.

Minnis pleaded guilty to robbery, attempted robbery, common assault and unlawful wounding and was jailed for four years and three months.

The court heard he had a long history of offending, most of which involved violence, including a racially aggravated public order offence.

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2024-03-28T02:10:17Z dg43tfdfdgfd