A KEEN Brit angler has turned traitor to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
Bradley Townsend was groomed online into joining Vladimir Putin’s troops by fellow mercenaries Aiden Minnis and Ben Stimson.
Townsend, who has no military experience and spent his days fishing for carp, rang his worried family earlier this week to say he was in Russia.
And in a pic posted online he is with Minnis and Stimson in Moscow’s Victory Square.
Townsend, 33, previously seen posing with a Union Jack, and the others are in front of a monument dedicated to the UK, US, French and Russian forces which defeated Nazi Germany.
And in a video, Townsend, of Barnsley, boasts: “I’m just a normal working class lad from Yorkshire. I came with the idea that I probably wouldn’t be able to go home. I’d definitely get persecuted if I went back.
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“But this was my own decision, I wasn’t pushed into anything. I’m not here for a suicide mission, but I understand that’s what can happen.”
Townsend left the UK on April Fool’s Day.
In the video Minnis gloats: “This guy has more balls than most internet warriors because he’s putting his money where his mouth is and you’ve got to respect that whether you’re ideologically of the same persuasion or not.”
Townsend’s family are said to be distraught to hear he was in Russia.
A close friend said: “He told them he was travelling to Romania. They have no idea why he would do this.
“This is a normal lad, who has no military background, and is one of three children.
“But, for some reason, he got this crazy idea in his head and they’re worried sick.
“You bring your children up and they are doing really well, and suddenly, this. He’s not a fighter and they’ve got no idea where this has come from. He’s just a normal kid. Why?”
Townsend, like Minnis and Stimson, faces jail for terror offences if he returns home.
Minnis, 39, fled Britain in 2022, joining a motorised rifle regiment.
The thug, who served a four-year jail term for a racist attack, has a Russian passport and a gallantry medal.
He has been disowned by his family in Chippenham, Wilts.
Stimson, 50, of Oldham, joined Russian-backed forces in the Donbas in 2024.
He was jailed in the UK in 2015 for joining pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.