An American soldier who left the U.S. and joined the Russian military says he doesn’t see himself as a traitor, but he might be the only American with that opinion.
Wilmer Puello-Mota was supposed to face a Rhode Island court in early 2024 on charges of possession of child pornography, counterfeiting, forgery, and more. But he headed to the airport instead of the courthouse, boarding a plane bound for Istanbul in Turkey on January 7.
Now the Kremlin is showing off a video featuring the serviceman in what’s being described as a propaganda video for the Russian military. In it, he said he’s using the skills he developed in the American Air Force to help the Russian government. Those who have seen the video say they identified Puello-Mota because the man in the video is named “Will,” and he recounts flying to Moscow from the U.S. in January before going off to Donetsk where he says he “served for three months.”
In the video, he said friends encouraged him to work for the Russian Ministry of Defence, and then to join the 137th brigade with them, saying it was “great.” The man “decided to join them, so here we are,” he said.
Colleagues and former associates say it definitely appears to the 27-year-old.
In the same video, Puello-Mota pushed back on suggestions that he is a traitor to America, because, he says, “The United States and Russia aren’t at war.” Yet he fled criminal charges in the U.S. and is now fighting for the Russians in their war against Ukraine.
What skills from the U.S. did he bring? Puello-Mota said he learned to operate drones, and developed “leadership skills” during his service in the U.S. Air Force and in the Massachusetts National Air Guard.
The Russians have him operating spy drones, and what appears to be Puello-Mota’s Facebook account showed a photo of him in military uniform operating a drone dated February of 2024.
Puello-Mota, surprisingly, was also a city councilor for two years in Holyoke, Mass.
He also referred to the two years he spent as a ‘city councilor’ – elected in Holyoke Massachusetts. During his stint, he said, he was able to “zoom out” and see international politics differently.
He was not very careful about covering his tracks in the U.S., as he called the police to report that his gun had been stolen. It was then that U.S. cops found pictures of a naked 17-year-old girl stored on his phone, which led to the child pornography charges.
