A Scottish man who left the country to fight for Vladimir Putin in the war against Ukraine is trying to become a Russian citizen.
Jay Fraser says he cut ties with his family to join Russian forces on the front line in eastern Europe and if he were to step foot on British soil again, he would be arrested straight away.
The former Tennent’s brewery worker, from Dunblane, Stirlingshire, previously said he is “not afraid to die for these” and his decision to fight for Russia was not for the money or a better quality of living.
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As the Record reports, the 24-year-old wishes to be granted permanent residency in Russia because of his “military service” as he posted on X: “I still have my British passport and will be a dual citizen technically, but if I was to set foot on British soil, I’d be arrested.”
In response to a comment that said: “Good riddance, please never come back,” Fraser replied: “I never will.”
In a propaganda video of him in military gear with a Russian flag cap, he said: “I burned all my bridges and came here. I believe this is a war not only between Russia and Ukraine, but also a war between eastern and western civilisation.”
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Fraser, who joined the Russian front line in August, said: “I came here not for money, or to boost my standard of living etc. but for ideological, -philosophical, and spiritual reasons – I am not afraid to die for these.”
He called on others who wanted to “follow in my footsteps” to send him a message. And in another video posted on Christmas Day, Fraser said he had spent five years of his life “making beer for a living” in Glasgow before deciding to go to Russia “to change things up a little bit”.
Fraser’s announcement comes as his friend Ross McElvenny, of Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, revealed he had been discharged from hospital on Sunday following an operation to replace an eye, which he lost in combat, with a prosthetic.
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McElvenny, 25, was treated in hospital in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don after his military vehicle was shelled in the Donetsk region of Ukraine in November.
He also suffered serious chest and leg wounds in the incident but at the time said he was “in positive spirits and have plenty of friends helping me”. He posted: “Today is the day! Hospital discharge time.”