British citizen explains why he joined Russian army (VIDEO)

British citizen Aiden Minnis joined the Russian military to avenge “the systematic murder of ethnic Russian people” in Donbass by Ukrainian forces, he told RT in an exclusive interview broadcast on Monday.

Minnis’ journey to the frontline began in 2014, when he first saw videos and reports on the Ukrainian government’s treatment of ethnic Russians following the ‘Maidan’ coup in Kiev. Seeing the Odessa Trade Unions House massacre – in which a mob of pro-Western coup supporters burned 42 people alive – was a turning point, he told former US Army officer Stanislav Krapivnik, who interviewed him for RT.

“The fascists locked innocent civilians, including women, in the building, then set them on fire,” he said, adding that he began to think “Something is wrong here. I’m complicit in this simply because my tax money is going to the arms that are being given to the Banderists, the fascists.”

Minnis flew to Russia in 2022, but realized he was unprepared to join the military. He returned a year later, and now serves as a sapper. When he first showed up at the recruitment office, “one of the officers laughed at me when I produced my British passport,” he recalled. “He just couldn’t believe that someone from Britain had come over to fight for them.”

Minnis, who is of Irish descent, explained that he hasn’t managed to learn Russian yet, but manages to communicate with his comrades through a mix of “pidgin English, pidgin Russian, and sign language.” His duties mostly involve construction, he said, but his unit has come under fire on several occasions, most notably near Kremennaya in Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic last year.

“That was quite hairy,” he said. “Sometimes you question your mortality. As these bombs are going off, they’re not far. You can feel the vibrations going through your chest, and it can leave you breathless.”