A former worker at Tennent’s Glasgow brewery who left to join the ranks of Putin’s invading forces in Ukraine has said he wants to become a Russian citizen.
Jay Fraser left Scotland to join the Russian front line in August, and says he is “not afraid to die” after he left after five years at Tennent’s in Glasgow’s east end and fled to Russia “to change things up a little bit”. Fraser, 24, said he wants permanent residency in Russia because of his “military service”, the Daily Record reports.
In a post to X, he said: “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.”
Fraser cut ties with family in Dunblane to join Russian forces in their bloody invasion of Ukraine. 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.”
He added: “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”.
Ross McElvenny, of Newton Mearns, recently revealed he had received surgery after losing an eye fighting for Putin. McElvenny, 25, a friend of Fraser, said he had received a prosthetic eye at a hospital in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and was discharged on Sunday (January 5).
McElvenny lost the eye and suffered serious wounds to his chest and leg after his military vehicle was shelled in the Donetsk region of Ukraine in November. At the time he said he was “in positive spirits and have plenty of friends helping me”.
Announcing his discharge, he posted: “Today is the day! Hospital discharge time.” McElvenny was recruited as a volunteer for Putin’s 1099th Motorised Rifle Regiment against Ukraine.
He is being investigated by police here and faces prosecution if he ever returns. Rangers fan McElvenny, who was sent a team scarf by one of his supporters at Christmas, said he had “no regrets” about joining Putin’s forces despite his injury.
He was granted Russian citizenship last month and said it was “one of the happiest moments of my life”. McElvenny also claimed in a post that he has “little to no contact with” his family in Scotland.
He told a follower: “You should visit Scotland if you haven’t already. That’s where I’m originally from though obviously I live in Russia now. Beautiful landscape back home but politically a mess. Decline.”
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