Bradley Townsend, a 33-year-old Yorkshireman, wears combat fatigues and brandishes a rifle alongside other volunteers recruited to fight for Russia against Ukraine.

“Keep our guys in your prayers,” the post on Telegram read. Less than seven weeks later, Townsend was killed in a reported Ukrainian drone attack following his deployment to the front lines – becoming the first Briton to be killed fighting for Vladimir Putin’s military.

But the British man who aided Townsend’s travel to Russia and enlistment in its army – alongside another who welcomed him upon arrival – are alive and well, and remain steadfast in their support for Putin’s regime.

Townsend’s death comes as Russia struggles to replenish its ranks, with widespread concern that a new wave of mobilisation is looming. UK-Russia relations are at a new low, with the Kremlin threatening Nato as Britain increases support to Ukraine.

Ben Stimson, 51, first travelled to fight in Ukraine in 2015, joining pro-Russian separatist militias in Donbas. He was jailed in Britain two years later for preparing acts of terrorism, with the journey amounting in UK law to supporting violence for the purpose of advancing a political or ideological cause.

Following his release, Stimson has returned to the battlefield, this time enlisting in Russia’s state military – and encouraging others to do the same.

His social media accounts chronicle his life in Russia and glorify volunteering on the front lines, with recent YouTube videos showing playful arm wrestling with Russian soldiers and including a song celebrating foreign fighters as “heroes for Great Russia”.

In those posts, Stimson is sometimes joined by Aiden Minnis, a 39-year-old fellow Briton from Chippenham, Wiltshire. He was jailed for launching a racist attack in 2008; at the time, his lawyer told the court he used to be associated with the far-right National Front.

Minnis, who describes himself on X as a “British-Irish volunteer in the Russian Armed Forces”, publishes pro-Russian content on social media and celebratory posts from other foreign fighters.

Townsend was among these men’s audience. From his home in Barnsley, where he worked as a joiner, he watched and read material bearing one core message: that Ukraine was a fascist state, Russia was the good guy and anything claiming to the contrary was a lie.

Both Stimson and Minnis have denied being recruiters of foreign fighters, with Stimson saying: “I do not receive any payments from the Russian state for posting videos. I’m not a recruiter. I’m a veteran and help foreign veterans of the Russian army in civilian life in Russia.”

Stimson added that Townsend paid for his trip himself.

Townsend left Britain this spring, telling his family he was going travelling to Romania. But he arrived in Moscow days later, staying at Stimson’s flat.

A video posted on 4 April on Stimson’s YouTube channel shows Minnis interviewing Townsend, who described himself as a “normal working-class lad from Yorkshire”.

Townsend said he decided to volunteer for Russia’s forces after becoming angered by Britain’s supply of financial and military aid to Ukraine.

“I’m not here for a suicide mission, but I understand that’s what can happen,” Townsend added.

Townsend’s mother told her son said he was going travelling for a year and visiting Romania following the breakdown of two relationships, and that she had no idea of his intentions.

In a series of Telegram posts providing updates on Townsend before his death, Stimson said the new recruit lived in his Moscow flat for two weeks before signing a contract with the Russian army and going off to complete basic training.

The relationship between Townsend, Stimson and Minnis fits a pattern commonly seen for foreign recruits arriving in Russia, said Kacper Rekawek, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for Counter Terrorism, who has been tracking Russia’s foreign fighters.

In many cases, international volunteers arrive with the support of a more experienced person from their own country who, like Stimson, has connections with the Russian military and is locally trusted.

“Most of the people who want to go wouldn’t know the language, they would have no clue about life in Russia,” Rekawek said. “They need someone to be the connector, who is already out there, maybe speaks a bit of language, knows people in the military.”

Such informal arrangements are common in conflicts where Brits are fighting without direct government support, or for jihadist groups. Isis created a global network of propagandists funnelling foreign fighters to its former territories in Syria and Iraq, while British volunteers have also travelled to fight for militias in Libya and Afghanistan.

The last footage of Townsend was posted on Stimson’s YouTube channel on 13 June, showing him sitting topless at a kitchen table alongside Minnis.

As “Down Under” by Men At Work played in the background, Townsend sang along to the lyric “you better run, you better take cover” and laughed.

When reports of Townsend’s death emerged the following day, Stimson wrote on Telegram: “Bradley had been a follower of my YouTube and Telegram channels for over 2 years. I had advised him to stay in the UK and support anti-Nato protests at home.

“He contacted me 3 months ago to say he was coming to Russia to join the army.”

Stimson said he urged Townsend to “come for a holiday” and said he could return to Britain, but that Townsend “was adamant he wanted to go and fight”.

Stimson told The i Paper: “I advise all requests from Brits wanting to join the Russian army to stay in the UK and attend legal anti-Nato or anti-Zelensky protests.”

“It is a very sad loss, Bradley was a great guy.”

Minnis said: “I did not recruit Bradley or even have any contact prior to him coming to Russia, let alone radicalise him.”

He added: “The next British soldier I meet in the battlefield [fighting for Ukraine] will get shot on the spot and shown no quarter, simply for being the mercenary war criminal the piece of shit is.

“Revel in the fact that I’m going to ship the bastards back to London in caskets every chance I get you hypocritical bastards.”

Townsend gave his own account of why he travelled to Russia in a lengthy Telegram post in April. He said he became “interested in separatist causes” and rejected the “picture of Russian aggression” in Britain.

“If I was radicalised, it was only by the pro-Ukrainian leading media,” Townsend wrote, accusing Ukraine of “many atrocities and massacres” and having “Nazi issues” – echoing talking points long spread by Moscow and used in its justification for invading Ukraine.

Rekawek said that only small numbers of volunteers are thought to have joined Russian forces from European countries, and that the views voiced by Townsend were “classic”.

The level of training that Townsend appears to have received is also routine for international volunteers, Rekawek said. While foreign fighters have at some points been assigned relatively safe posts for the purpose of generating propaganda videos used to encourage others, they are now given “very quick” basic training and deployed to the front lines alongside Russian troops, he said.

“You learn how to shoot and off you go,” Rekwaek added. “For Russia, these guys are just bodies that are to be fed into the grinder.”

“On a good day you’re a mascot, and on a bad day you’re a piece of meat,” he said.

Stimson and Minnis both claim to have “revoked” their British nationalities, with Stimson having acquired Russian citizenship. Both men said they believe they would be arrested upon return to the UK.

Jonathan Hall, the Government’s adviser on terrorism and state threats laws, said the pair’s activities could not be prosecuted under the Terrorism Act because “it is not intended to apply to state activity” such as fighting for the Russian army.

But he told The i Paper that a Victorian law – the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 – prohibits enlisting into the military of “any foreign state at war with a friendly state” or “inducing” others to do so.

“The law, although antiquated, does apply at the moment: Russia is currently at war with Ukraine, a friendly country with whom the UK is at peace,” Hall said.

“Of course, it is difficult to enforce this law where someone has already gone abroad.”

The Foreign Office did not directly confirm Townsend’s death but said it was supporting the family of a British national who had died in Ukraine.

Its official advice reads: “If you travel to Russia to join the Russian army, or to help others engaged in the war with Ukraine, you could be breaking UK laws. You could be prosecuted when you return to the UK.”