British Brit Burns Passport While Fighting for Russia in Ukraine

Aiden Minnis, a 38-year-old British citizen from Chippenham, Wiltshire, has burned his UK passport in protest against government legislation regarding overseas combatants. Minnis, who joined the Russian army in January 2024 to fight in Ukraine, posted footage online showing the travel document being set ablaze in front of a large Russian flag.

Passport Burning and Social Media Claims

Minnis recorded a 40-second video message dressed in combat fatigues and carrying an assault rifle, which is believed to be an AK-74M. In the footage, he brandishes his British passport and claims the action is a demonstration against UK legislation that allows the government to revoke citizenship for individuals participating in terrorism overseas.

“This is my British passport,” Minnis says in the video. “This new anti-terror legislation in the United Kingdom says they can withdraw and revoke citizenship that participates in anything that they deem as affecting their country. Consider my passport revoked, consider it rescinded, consider that I do not want it any more.”

Using a lighter and what appeared to be an accelerant, Minnis set the document on fire. In subsequent posts on X and Facebook, he wrote, “Today I renounce my British citizenship. F*** you Great Britain. Until the end, I stand firm. Slava Russia,” accompanied by a statement translated as, “Our cause is just, the enemy will be defeated, victory will be ours!”

At the conclusion of the video, Minnis used the phrase “F*** Great Britain, Slava Rossii [glory to Russia]” before firing his assault rifle into the air.

Background and Military Service

Minnis has frequently used social media to document his deployment, styling himself as a “Stormtrooper, Motorized Rifle Regiment, at The Russian Armed Forces.” He claims to have been awarded the “Medal of Suvorov,” a Russian state decoration given to ground troops for courage in battle, and has routinely posted boastful messages regarding his involvement in laying landmines and explosives.

Minnis has a criminal history in the UK. He is a former drug addict and a former member of the far-right National Front party. In 2008, he was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for an unprovoked racially assaulting on a man in the street, according to records cited by Wiltshire 999s and the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald.

Minnis’s public actions follow reports surrounding Bradley Townsend, who is believed to be the first citizen to be killed in Ukraine while fighting for Russia. Minnis’s ongoing presence on the frontline marks him as another British national taking up arms for Vladimir Putin.