Dad of British ex-soldier, 22, captured by Russian forces in Ukraine fears he’ll be ‘used as bargaining chip & tortured’

THE DAD of a British ex-soldier who was captured by the Russian forces whilst fighting for Ukraine fears he will be "tortured" inside hellish prisons.

James Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, is said to have been taken prisoner during fierce fighting in Russia's Kursk region.

The PoW was paraded by his captors in two separate propaganda videos posted online today.

His father Scott Anderson said he was in "complete shock", but hoped his son would be used as a "bargaining chip".

He told the DailyMail: "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."

In a video posted by the Russians, Anderson, wearing green military clothing, said he served in the British Army between 2019 and 2023 before travelling to Ukraine.

He goes on to tell interrogators he was a private in 22 Signal Regiment.

The detainee says he left the Army before applying online to join Ukraine's International Legion.

He adds: "I had just lost everything. I'd just lost my job.

"I see it on the TV. It was a stupid idea."

In a second video - believed to have been taken shortly after he was captured - his hands are bound in red tape.

He is asked by his interrogator how long he served in the British Army.

He replies: "I learn for one year and I stay for four years."

The interrogator then asks: "Why you come in Russia?"

Anderson says: "Commander take my s*** and tell me to come...I don't want to be here."

Mr Anderson said he was "in tears" when he watched the two videos.

The dad revealed he begged his son not to go and fight in the war.

But the brave Brit decided to support the Ukrainians because "he thought what he was doing was right".

"When he called me and sent the video I was in complete shock and in tears, Mr Anderson said.

"I could see straight away it was him. He looks frightened, scared and worried.

"I didn’t want him to go. I did try to persuade him not to go - my whole family tried to persuade him.

"He wanted to go out there because he thought he was doing what was right. He was dead against what was happening to the Ukrainian people."

The Foreign Office is understood to be in touch with the family.

A FCDO Spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of a British man following reports of his detention.”

Last night, former Brit PoW Shaun Pinner, who was captured at the start of the war, said he faces a "very dangerous" 10 days.

Shaun, 51, a former soldier in the Royal Anglian Regiment, was also paraded on TV by the Russians before being sentenced to death.

He was finally released as part of a prisoner swap deal brokered by former Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich.

Shaun told The Sun: "Anything he says is under duress - we must remember that.

"The video is important because the more people it goes out to, the more people know he's alive and that enhances his chances.

"Someone now has a responsibility for his safety.

"But it's important that information about his background is kept to a bare minimum.

"Russia will be hoping the video provokes a flurry of information they can use in interrogation.

"My job when I was captured was to get on TV. You want to be able to tell the world your condition, what you look like, who has got you.

"There's no telling what has happened since then but this is a positive."

In 2022 two British-born prisoners of war were sentenced to death by Russia in a kangaroo court after joining the Ukrainian forces.

Heroes Shaun Pinner, 48, and Aiden Aslin, 28, pleaded guilty to “undergoing training with the aim of carrying out terrorist activities” in what was widely suspected to be a forced confession.

Shaun was captured during the Russian siege of Mariupol and later handed a cruel sentence in occupied Donetsk.

The former British Army soldier was freed in September 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange.

Aiden was also captured by Putin's men in Mariupol, and released as part of the same prisoner release deal in September 2022.

Both men called The Sun’s news desk weeks before their conviction, declaring they were Ukrainian citizens serving legally in the nation’s army.

Recordings made when they called The Sun show they thought they were legal combatants entitled to be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.

But speaking about the conditions of his detainment to the BBC, Aiden said: "It's like some old Soviet sort of police thing.

"There's no beds, just concrete floor, no toilet, and they give you like a tiny piece of bread a day, just one piece, and then they also give you a two-litre bottle to share amongst everyone, so you'd be lucky if you get maybe a quarter of a cup of water.

"So it's just the bare minimum to just keep you alive, and then on top of this, you have people that will get taken out - they'll find out something about them, and you just hear them being beaten."

ESCALATION IN RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

Kyiv launched US ATACMS missiles into Russian territory overnight on November 11 - and British Storm Shadow rockets just two days later.

In retaliation, Putin fired the hypersonic "Oreshnik" IRBM at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday - with chilling footage capturing warheads raining down from the sky.

The Russian dictator then warned he could strike British and US military targets in his biggest threat yet.

In a televised address on Thursday, Putin said military facilities inside the UK and the US could become valid targets for the Russian forces as a direct response to Ukraine's use of Nato missiles.

He said: "Russia considers itself entitled to use weapons against military facilities of countries that permit the use of their weapons against Russia.