A former American city council member who faces trial in the United States on child pornography charges appears to have fled to Russia and joined the Russian military, according to footage shared by regional authorities in the northern Khanty-Mansi autonomous district.
Wilmer Puello-Mota, former city councilor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, reportedly left the United States on Jan. 7 in violation of court orders while being tried in Rhode Island for possession of child pornography.
The Massachusetts-based newspaper The Republican reported last month that people who know Puello-Mota had recognized his voice in a short video showing the capture of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka in February.
On Wednesday evening, the Khanty-Mansi regional government’s official channel on the Telegram messaging app published a video interview at a military enlistment center with a man identified as former U.S. soldier “Wil.” The man appears to be Puello-Mota.
The Republican said Puello-Mota, 28, was a member of the U.S. National Guard before being separated from the service due to child pornography charges in October 2022.
“An American signed a military contract at the patriots center in Khanty-Mansi,” reads a message accompanying the video on Telegram. “He liberated Avdiivka fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with Russians.”
“I definitely would do it again, I’d go back if I could,” Puello-Mota says in the video as he recounts his experience fighting in an “international brigade” alongside the Russian army.
The Khanty-Mansi government did not mention Puello-Mota by name or the outstanding criminal charges against him in the United States. The video was widely circulated among influential pro-war bloggers on Telegram.
Russian authorities have not commented on Puello-Mota’s reported recruitment into the military.
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