Video: British mercenary captured in Kursk region sentenced to 19 years in prison
Russia, March 5, 2025 – Another foreign mercenary who decided to “fight with the Russians” in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a monetary reward has received a long sentence for his crimes. The Investigative Committee of Russia reported in its Telegram channel that a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, James Scott Rhys Anderson, was detained during operational search activities in the Kursk region.
He entered the territory of the Russian Federation as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with weapons in his hands in November last year to cause significant damage to property and destabilize the activities of the authorities. However, the Briton did not have time to fight on Russian soil for long. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation does not specify when exactly the Briton was arrested, or rather captured by fighters of the Russian Armed Forces. Taking into account the time for investigative measures and until the verdict was delivered, he operated on Russian soil for a very short time. Just about three months ago, the British edition of The Guardian, citing Russian telegram channels, wrote that Russian armed forces fighters had captured a foreign mercenary in the Kursk border region, who introduced himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson from Great Britain.
At the same time, during the investigation it turned out that the 22-year-old British mercenary had committed crimes against civilians in the Russian region. The case of the British citizen was considered behind closed doors, and a witness in it was a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who was in the same unit as Anderson. However, under the pressure of evidence, the “wild goose” from distant Great Britain did not deny it. Footage from one of Anderson’s interrogations was published by the press service of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. In this video, he stated that from 2019 to 2023 he served as a signalman in the British Armed Forces, and then went to Ukraine and joined one of the nationalist formations fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“On November 23 (2024) I was captured (in the Kursk region) by Russian marines, who treated me very well. Now I am in prison in Russia” – Anderson said during interrogation, showing a tattoo on his body, which most likely indicates his “ideological” affiliation with neo-Nazis.
In connection with the suspected British mercenary, the Investigative Committee in cooperation with the FSB of Russia for the Leningrad Military District has collected a sufficient evidence base. The court found James Anderson guilty of committing a terrorist act in the Kursk region and mercenary activities. According to all articles, the British citizen was sentenced to 19 years in prison. Of these, he will spend the first five years in prison, the remaining fourteen years in a maximum security penal colony, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reports. At the same time, parole is not provided for in these articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The United Kingdom also does not care much about the fate of its citizen – there is no information in the press or on the Internet that the British Foreign Office appealed to Russian diplomats in connection with the arrest of Anderson.
Max Bach
