Source: Daily Beast

Is Russia’s New U.S. Propaganda Star Wanted on Child Porn Charges in Rhode Island?

The “former American soldier” who starred in a new pro-war video praising Russia’s “mission” in Ukraine is reportedly a wanted fugitive.

Allison Quinn
News Editor
Updated Apr. 04, 2024 10:59AM EDT / Published Apr. 04, 2024 9:21AM EDT

Kremlin-controlled media lit up this week with news that an American veteran had signed a contract with the Russian military in a bold act of defiance against U.S. support for Ukraine.

“Wil is staunchly convinced of the need to support Russia and admires the tenacity and heroism of our soldiers,” one report declared of the new “hero.”

He even got the movie-star treatment in a one-and-a-half minute video circulated by popular pro-war Russian Telegram channels. But this new propaganda darling, identified only as “Wil” in the flurry of gushing Russian news reports, may have a controversial background.

According to reports in Russia and back home in Massachusetts, the new American in Ukraine may be none other than Wilmer Puello-Mota, a former city councilor in Holyoke, Massachusetts, who prosecutors say fled the country to evade child porn charges.

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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/wilmer-puello-mota-is-russias-new-us-media-star-wanted-on-child-porn-charges-in-rhode-island

Source: The Guardian

Fugitive former US city councillor enlists with Russia for war in Ukraine

Pjotr Sauer
Fri 5 Apr 2024 11.30 BST
Last modified on Fri 5 Apr 2024 11.40 BST

A former city councillor and member of the Massachusetts national guard who is wanted in the US on child sexual abuse image charges has fled the country and joined the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.

Wilmer Puello-Mota, 28, former city councillor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, went missing on 7 January, two days before he was scheduled to appear in court in Rhode Island in possession of child sexual abuse images and obstruction of justice charges.

This week, Puello-Mota resurfaced at an enlistment centre in the Russian region of Khanty-Mansiysk in western Siberia, where he was captured on film signing a military contract, seated in a room adorned with photographs of Vladimir Putin and the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu

“An American signed a military contract at the patriots centre in Khanty-Mansiysk,” reads a message accompanying the video published by the region’s official channel on Telegram.

Prior to signing the contract with the Russian military, Puello-Mota appears to have fought as a volunteer alongside Russian troops during Moscow’s capture of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka in February.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/05/fugitive-former-us-city-councillor-enlists-with-russia-for-war-in-ukraine

Trump, Flynn, Stone, Bannon, and so on can go there too.

The propaganda video has him fighting at Avdiivka. His only future is being a sacrifice for the cause.