A Russian court has confirmed a British man who was allegedly fighting for Ukraine has been captured in Russia’s Kursk region.
Video had been circulating online in recent days showing a man dressed in military clothing who identifies himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, and says he formerly served in the British Army.
A Russian court said it had ordered Mr Anderson be held in custody, alleging he had “participated in hostilities in the territory of the Kursk region”.
Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into the Russian region on 6 August and still holds territory there.
Mr Anderson was identified in court on Monday as being a British citizen from Banbury, Oxfordshire.
Russian investigators have accused him of committing a terrorist act and being a mercenary. That means that instead of treating him as a prisoner-of-war, he faces criminal prosecution.
The charges he is facing carry maximum sentences of 20 and 15 years in prison respectively.
The closed-door session heard he is “suspected of committing a set of particularly serious crimes that pose a particular public danger to the public”.
The court added that the decision could be appealed.
While Britons have been captured in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, Mr Anderson is the first fighter to be captured in Russian territory.
Earlier this week, Scott Anderson, Mr Anderson’s father, said he had begged his son not to go to Ukraine.
“He wanted to go out there because he thought he was doing what was right,” Mr Anderson told the Daily Mail.
“I’m hoping he’ll be used as a bargaining chip, but my son told me they torture their prisoners and I’m so frightened he’ll be tortured.”
Mr Anderson said he was sent the video by his son’s commander and was left “in complete shock and tears”.
“I could see straight away it was him. He looks frightened, scared and worried,” he added.
In the video of Mr Anderson first posted to the Telegram messaging platform, he tells a man questioning him from behind a camera that he served as a private in the British Army from 2019 to 2023.
He says he joined the Ukraine’s International Legion – a military unit made up of foreign volunteers – after losing his job and seeing reports on television about the war.
He says he flew to Krakow in Poland from Luton and travelled from there by bus to the Ukrainian border.
The International Legion was formed by the Ukrainian government following Russia’s invasion in 2022, with the aim of recruiting foreigners to fight.
Recruits are offered three year contracts, and paid between £440 ($550 USD) and £3,800 ($4,800 USD) per month depending on the level of combat they are engaged in.
Asked about Mr Anderson’s case earlier this week, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “We will do all we can to offer this UK national all the support we can.”
The detention follows a period of deteriorating relations between the UK and Russia.
Last week it emerged that Britain had lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of longer-range Storm Shadow missiles, allowing them to be fired at Russian territory.
President Putin responded with a warning: “We believe we have the right to use our weapons against the military facilities of countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities.”
