A British prisoner of war has been sentenced to 19 years imprisonment in Russia for fighting for Ukraine, the region’s judicial system reported today.
James Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, was accused ‘of crimes committed as part of the Ukrainian army in the Kursk region’ of Russia, a Russian military court reported.
The former British army soldier, from Banbury, was charged with acting as a mercenary on behalf of Ukraine, and under Russia’s terrorist act.
The case was heard in a closed court session, the 2nd Western District Military Court reported, after the sentencing on Friday.
Anderson was claimed to have ‘admitted guilt’, allegedly saying that he had decided to take part in the war in return for payment.
The 22-year-old will face five years in a Russian prison and the remainder of his sentence in an unnamed maximum security penal colony, per the justice system.
James Scott Rhys Anderson was sentenced on Friday to 19 years imprisonment
His father said previously that his son would not be dissuaded from going to Ukraine because ‘he thought what he was doing was right’
James with his sister. He had been in the Army for four years, having gone to Army Foundation College as a 17-year-old
A serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who was in the same unit as Andersen, was questioned as a witness, according to the press service of the region’s judicial system.
Anderson reportedly crossed into Russia in mid-November 2024 ‘armed with automatic firearms and explosive devices’, the press service of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation told Russian news agency TASS.
‘Pursuing the goal of intimidating the population, causing significant property damage and destabilizing the activities of government bodies, he committed criminal acts against the civilian population,’ the agency reports.
‘Anderson was detained in the Kursk region, after which he was taken into custody.’
Anderson appeared on state television later in November, indicating that he expected a jail sentence of between 20 and 30 years.
Appearing to speak under duress, he admitted ignoring warnings from his family not to return to Ukraine and expressed deep regret.
‘All the time when I’m in my cell, I’m always thinking about how my mum and dad said: ”Don’t go back, don’t go back”,’ he told the cameras.
Anderson told Izvestia that he was paid $400 US dollars a month [£315] as a mercenary fighting for Ukraine, with $60 a day [£47] when he went on missions.
He also told RIA Novosti it was wrong for Ukraine to invade Russia’s Kursk region, where he ultimately surrendered.
The 22-year-old appeared in court over his involvement in the incursion into Kursk
Anderson reportedly crossed into Russia in mid-November 2024 with firearms and explosives
He allegedly admitted guilt and said he was motivated by financial compensation
The 22-year-old’s father told the Daily Mail late last year that he was in ‘complete shock’ to discover his son’s fate and said he feared he would be tortured.
Scott Anderson, 41, said he and other family members had begged his son not to go to Ukraine before he joined up around eight months ago.
But he said his son would not be dissuaded because ‘he thought what he was doing was right’.
He said: ‘I’m hoping he’ll be used as a bargaining chip but my son told me they torture their prisoners and I’m so frightened he’ll be tortured.’
Speaking at the family home in Oxfordshire, Mr Anderson Sr added he had been due to come home for Christmas in only a few weeks’ time.
The father-of-four said: ‘We spoke on WhatsApp almost every day until he went on his most recent operation. He was acting as a signalman.
James had been in the Army for four years, having gone to Army Foundation College as a 17-year-old.
After leaving the Army last year, he became a civilian custody officer for Thames Valley Police, prior to joining the Ukrainians.
The former British army soldier, from Banbury, was charged with acting as a mercenary on behalf of Ukraine
British POW James Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, from Banbury, formerly with the Royal Corps of Signals in the UK Army
James Scott Rhys Anderson appeared in footage shared by his captors late last year. Mr Anderson was paraded in front of the cameras and a short video clip published by Kremlin-backed sources online
A Russian self-propelled multiple rocket launcher is fired toward Ukrainian position at an undisclosed location in the Kursk region border area in this image shared on February 6
Ukrainian forces in Sumy use American Bradley Fighting Vehicles during Ukraines on-going cross-border operation into Russias Kursk region, on January 15, 2025
In footage shared by his captors, he stated that he was a former soldier with the British Army, in the Royal Signals corps, between 2019 and 2023, but said he was dismissed.
He said he then applied for the International Legion of fighters helping Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine made a surprise incursion into Russia in the summer and seized 500 square miles of territory in the Kursk region.
Amnesty International warned on Tuesday that thousands of Ukrainians remain in captivity in Russia, facing torture, enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention.
The rights group said that Russian authorities had subjected prisoners of war and civilian captives to inhumane treatments which ‘amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity’.
Amnesty interviewed 104 people in Ukraine between January and November 2024 to compile its report.
The evidence brought together testimonies from Ukrainian POWs, family members and formerly detained civilians and their families.
There was no mention of alleged acts against foreign mercenaries.
In 2022, six British nationals – fighters Sean Pinner, Aiden Aslin, Andrew Hill and John Harding, and aid volunteers Dylan Healy and Paul Urey – were captured by Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine and threatened with the death penalty.
Father-of-four Mr Urey, aged 45, died in Russian captivity, while the other five were eventually released in September that year following negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, brokered by Saudi Arabia and involving former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich.
