{"id":2372934,"date":"2024-11-24T17:43:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-24T22:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russia-captures-former-british-army-soldier-in-kursk-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-11-24T17:45:12","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T22:45:12","slug":"russia-captures-former-british-army-soldier-in-kursk-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/russia-captures-former-british-army-soldier-in-kursk-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia captures former British army soldier in Kursk &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frussia-captures-former-british-army-soldier-in-kursk-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2372934&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A 22-year-old former British soldier, James Scott \u200dRhys Anderson, has\u200c been\u2062 captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine in the Kursk\u2063 region. In videos released by Russian \u2064sources,\u200d Anderson\u2064 describes himself as a disillusioned recruit who\u200d joined the Ukrainian International Legion after losing his job \u2063in the\u200d British Army. \u200dHe served from 2019 \u2063to 2023 with the 22nd \u2063Signal Regiment. During \u2063the interrogation, he expressed \u200dregret about his decision to fight in Ukraine, \u200breflecting on his <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">challenging\u200c personal circumstances<\/a>. The Russian\u2062 Ministry of Defense\u200c has noted that Anderson is a mercenary, which means he does not \u200bhave the same protections under\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/putin-fumes-at-underlings-about-second-crimea-bridge-attack\/\" title=\"Putin angrily confronts subordinates over &#039;second&#039; Crimea bridge attack.\">international \u200blaw<\/a> as conventional military personnel. \u200dThe UK Foreign\u2063 Office has acknowledged his capture \u200band is providing \u2064support\u200b to his family. Anderson&#8217;s situation highlights the risks faced by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-chechen-jihadis-in-syria-long-to-join-ukraine-war\/\" title=\"Report: Chechen Jihadis in Syria Long to Join Ukraine War\">foreign volunteers<\/a> in the \u200congoing\u200c conflict.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Russia captures former British army soldier in Kursk<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1884781\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/russia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Russian\">Russian<\/a> Armed Forces captured a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/united-kingdom\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"British\">British<\/a> army soldier fighting on behalf of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Russian\">Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>A Russian Telegram user posted two videos of the interrogation of 22-year-old James Scott Rhys Anderson. In the interrogation, Anderson portrayed himself as an uninspired recruit, saying he had only joined the Ukrainian International Legion after being fired from the U.K. army.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3223892\/president-elect-donald-trump-cabinet-picks-list\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong>TRUMP CABINET PICKS: WHO&rsquo;S BEEN TAPPED TO SERVE IN THE PRESIDENT-ELECT&rsquo;S ADMINISTRATION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In this photo taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, Russian soldiers patrol a trail in the Russian &ndash; Ukrainian border area in &#8203;&#8203;the Kursk region, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;I was in the British Army before, from 2019 to 2023, 22 Signal Regiment. Just a private, I was a signalman. One Signal Brigade, 22 Signal Regiment, 252 Squadron,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So when I got fired from my job I applied on the International Legion webpage. I had just lost everything, I had just lost my job. My dad was away in prison. I see it on the TV,&rdquo; Anderson added while shaking his head. &ldquo;It was a stupid idea.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">James Scott Rhys Anderson, a 22-year-old British mercenary, has been captured by Russian forces in the Kursk region.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian Ministry of Defence reports that 141 mercenaries from Great Britain have died during the Ukrainian conflict.<\/p>\n<p>Anderson reportedly joined the Foreign&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/riwkNskayp\">pic.twitter.com\/riwkNskayp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; alex (@Alexzawesome123) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Alexzawesome123\/status\/1860724808352518374?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 24, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3220465\/what-trump-promised-day-one-white-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong>WHAT TRUMP HAS PROMISED TO DO ON DAY 1 IN THE OVAL OFFICE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>He revealed that he had flown to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Poland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Poland<\/a> and crossed the border into Ukraine by land. He said that his commander abruptly sent him to Kursk after taking his passport and other possessions.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/despite-insistence-by-democrat-politicians-and-medical-elites-empirical-evidence-does-not-conclusively-show-that-masks-reduce-the-spread-of-covid\/\" title=\"Despite Insistence by Democrat Politicians and Medical Elites, Empirical Evidence DOES NOT Conclusively Show that Masks Reduce the Spread of COVID\">don&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t want to be here,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Russian milbloggers gloated over the capture.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The&nbsp;Kursk&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/taliban-captures-billions-in-us-military-equipment\/\" title=\"Taliban Captures Billions in US Military Equipment\">group captured<\/a> this piece of s*** from foggy Albion,&rdquo; the Telegram user <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/rustroyka1945\/19071\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"captioned\">captioned<\/a> the video. &ldquo;Welcome to Russia, scum.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3220320\/greatest-comeback-trump-white-house-history\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong>GREATEST COMEBACK? HERE&rsquo;S HOW TRUMP STACKS UP IN WHITE HOUSE HISTORY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Others expressed surprise he was taken alive. Foreign volunteers are treated as mercenaries rather than enemy combatants, stripping them of typical prisoner-of-war protections.<\/p>\n<p>Anderson&rsquo;s capture was confirmed by a military source to the Russian outlet <em>TASS<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;A mercenary from Britain has been taken prisoner in the Kursk area,&rdquo; they said.<\/p>\n<p>The U.K. Foreign office seemingly confirmed his capture as well, with a spokesperson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/world-news\/2024\/11\/24\/former-british-soldier-fighting-ukraine-captured-russia\/?utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_campaign=Echobox&amp;utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1732472371\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"telling\">telling<\/a> the<em> Telegraph<\/em> that they were&nbsp;&ldquo;supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Anderson appears to be the first Western volunteer to be taken prisoner since the opening months of the war. Two British citizens, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, were captured after surrendering during the Siege of Azovstal in Mariupol in April 2022. Though originally sentenced to death as mercenaries, they were released four months later as part of a prisoner swap.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the creation of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, aping the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War. Volunteers from dozens of countries worldwide joined.<\/p>\n<p>The formation has taken several hits in terms of public image and casualties, inaugurated by a Russian missile strike in the opening days of the war that killed dozens of volunteers in Lviv. One volunteer from Alabama <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/a-us-veteran-went-to-ukraine-and-made-a-shock-defection-to-russia-2023-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"estimated\">defected<\/a> to Russia. By May 2024, experts contacted by <em>Business Insider<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/ukraines-international-legion-is-still-fighting-but-not-many-left-2024-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"estimated\">estimated<\/a> that the legion&rsquo;s total strength had decreased to between 1,000 and 2,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1884781\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1884781\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russia captures ex-British soldier James Anderson in Kursk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2372935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Russian-soldiers.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[45634,4280,12900],"class_list":["post-2372934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-british-army","tag-russia","tag-soldier"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Russian-soldiers.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2372934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2372938,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2372934\/revisions\/2372938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2372935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2372934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2372934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2372934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}