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THE two Brits caught fighting for Putin against Ukraine are “thrill-seeking gamers” that “should NEVER be allowed back to the UK,” says an SAS legend.
“Big Phil” Campion branded Ben Stimson and his convicted felon pal, Aiden Minnis, “traitors to the Crown” who have “made their bed and now have to lie in”.
The former elite soldier, who has fought in conflicts all over the world, told The Sun he was shocked at the wicked nature of their actions.
Campion said: “When I saw the news my eyeballs popped out the front of my head, it goes against the grain of anything I or a soldier would want to do and I thought who are they?
“They played too much Call of Duty and think they can apply their trade across their world.”
Ben Stimson, 48, from Oldham, has shared videos online from the frontline brazenly flaunting Russian military gear and gloating: “Yes, yes, I’m back in Russia. I’m back in uniform.”
Stimson, who has previously been convicted for terrorism after helping pro-Russian separatists, is not the only Brit fighting for Putin’s ruthless thugs.
His “best British friend in the Russian army” is convicted felon Aiden Minnis from Chippenham.
The former National Front member who was jailed for a racist attack in 2008, told the Mirror proudly that he is now a “sapper in the Russian army”.
The thug dubbed himself a “Z Patriot” and thinks Putin is “still the greatest politician on earth”.
Minnis and Stimson are the first known Brits to make the shameful choice to fight for Russia.
SAS vet Campion fumed: “These two creatures – I will call them creatures as what they’re doing is completely wrong – I feel as strongly about them as Shamima Begum going over to ISIS and like her, they shouldn’t come back.
“They have made their bed so lie in it, you’ve picked your side. You’re not welcome in the UK… we don’t want you.
“Those two have shown allegiance to somebody else who is against the way we live.
“If you do come back – you need to be lifted, interrogated for what you did, punished accordingly…You’re done and dusted.”
In my mind, this is the same as fighting for Nazi Germany in World War 2.
General Richard Barrons, ex-chief of UK Joint Forces
He said that there is a long history of UK mercenaries that fight all over the world, but it is “very unusual” to do it against UK interests and fight against their ally.
“This stinks of men who haven’t been trained properly, too busy thrill-seeking and will give up any morals for a price.
“If you throw your country under the bus you don’t deserve to come back and you deserve everything coming to you….They are traitors.”
General Sir Richard Barrons, former Joint Forces chief, was in total agreement that Stimson and Minnis had marked themselves as “enemies” of the UK.
He told The Sun: “The war in Ukraine is a matter of vital interest and security for the UK, so if you chose to fight for the other side you are opposing the vital interests of your country and you are fighting for the enemy.
“And there must be consequences.”
General Barrons argued: “In my mind, this is the same as fighting for Nazi Germany in World War 2. They have become the enemy of their own country, so it cannot be their own country anymore.”
Like Campion, he argued they should be treated like those who fled to the UK to join ISIS – and be stripped of their citizenship.
Once they are done fighting for Russia, Barrons said: “It is inconceivable that we would take them back, the UK government should take a very clear position”.
The Foreign Enlistment Act makes it illegal for Brits to join armies in countries who are in conflict with Britain.
However, Lt. Col. Stuart Crawford believes that legally speaking, “it’s easy to say their citizenship should be removed, but hard to implicate.”
Questioning the warped motives of Stimson and Minnis, Crawford told The Sun they must have been “desperate” to leave their lives in the UK.
“I reckon they’ve got out there for a sense of adventure and wanted to say to their compatriots and friends back home if they have them, that they’ve been to war, and they’ve fought in the trenches.
“It gives them a bit of kudos, and perhaps a little bit of personal self respect in their own sort of slightly twisted way.”
He said life must have been hell for Stimson to choose to “go into trenches in the winter at the age of 48, which is no fun, I can tell you.”
Technically, he explained “we’re not at war with Russia, nor is Nato at war with Russia, so we’re in difficult circumstances here [to prosecute them]”.
“What can be done?” he asked.
“I think that the British Government would be well advised to look into the rules and regulations governing British nationals going abroad to fight for foreign armies and states.”
