Family of Aiden Aslin captured by Russia asks UK Government to help get him back

The family of a British fighter who was captured in Ukraine has rubbished claims he is a spy and demanded the British government help to get him back on home soil.

Russia’s state TV channels broadcast suspect footage of former care worker Aiden Aslin being questioned by his captors after he was forced to surrender in Mariupol this week.

Aslin, 28, joined the Ukrainian marines four years ago. The former care worker has dual UK-Ukrainian citizenship and a Ukrainian fiancee, yet Russia appears determined to brand him an enemy agent rather than a prisoner of war.

But speaking from the family home in Balderton, Nottinghamshire today, his brother, Nathan Wood begged the Foreign Office to intervene after Aiden was branded a spy by the Kremlin – prompting fears he will be treated more harshly than a PoW.

It comes as a second British fighter was yesterday captured by Russian forces in Ukraine and paraded on state television.

Ex-British Army soldier Shaun Pinner, 48, was serving in the Ukrainian Marines.

Looking clean-shaven with no visible wounds, he said on the broadcast: ‘I am Shaun Pinner. I am a citizen of the United Kingdom. I was captured in Mariupol.

‘I am part of 36th brigade, 1st Battalion Ukrainian Marine. I was fighting in Mariupol for five to six weeks and now I am in the Donetsk People’s Republic.’

There is concern for his safety amid fears that he could treated as a spy by the Kremlin.

25-year-old Nathan told the Mirror: ‘They are spinning it that Aidan’s a mercenary and a spy but he is not, absolutely not. They have no proof. It’s all lies.

‘They have no evidence. They are trying to make an example of him.’

His mother, Angela Wood, said she also had concerns for Aiden’s safety if he was treated as a foreign spy.

‘We have grave concerns and fears, especially if he is being treated as a mercenary and not a prisoner of war.’

‘The Russian authorities will have had his documents when they seized him, they will know that he is a Ukrainian soldier fighting legitimately.’

The Foreign Office, which has always advised Britons to not venture out to Ukraine as part of any ‘Lads Army’ effort, said: ‘We are aware of the detention of a British national and have been in touch with their family to support them.’

Yesterday, Pinner was shown on a military TV channel linked to war journalist Andrey Rudenko, who works closely with the Kremlin and also shot the footage of Aslin.

He reportedly told the Russians that ‘he doesn’t want war and wants to go home’.

Pinner now faces interrogation by the Russian Investigative Committee, it was announced today.

He was described as ‘an English mercenary who served in the 36th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Marines as a stormtrooper and is now in captivity.

‘This is the second Englishman caught in Mariupol.’

Pinner’s friends expressed deep concern for his safety.

Jayson Pihajlic, a UK-based friend, said: ‘Another former comrade of ours has been captured. Social media seems to be the reason Aiden has not yet been executed.

‘I hope the same for my brother Shaun Pinner.’

His fate in the hands of the Russians and the separatist authorities in Donetsk remains uncertain.

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