Greater Manchester man fighting for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine exposed

A man from Oldham is fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Ben Stimson is in the Donbas region with Vladimir Putin's forces, the Mirror reports.

In military fatigues with a Russian flag emblazoned above a pocket, Stimson brags: "Yes, yes, I'm back in Russia, I'm back in uniform." He then waves around an unexploded grenade shell used by Ukraine and jokes: "We've got some British taxpayers' returns."

In another video posted at the weekend, Stimson makes it clear who he is fighting for Russia. He says: "Every man takes his choice... a lot of us, the foreign volunteers, have chosen to come over to this side, to the Russian side."

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Stimson's 'best British friend in the Russian army' is Aiden Minnis, a former National Front member and convicted thug from Chippenham, Wiltshire, who told the Mirror he is now a 'sapper in the Russian army'. The two men are the first Brits known to be fighting for Russia.

Former British Army commander Colonel Richard Kemp said: "These two are an absolute disgrace and are traitors who upon their return to the UK should be arrested and jailed."

Stimson, 48, has posted a video from the frontline showing soldiers trudging through a muddy field past two dead bodies, walking past land mines and digging up a hand grenade. Like the British jihadis who joined ISIS in Syria, these men face jail if or when they return. Stimson is in the Pyatnashka brigade, an international militia that fights Ukrainian soldiers with Russia in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Stimson, 48, was jailed for terrorism offences after spending four months helping Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass region in 2015, the year