The brother of a hero Brit captured by Russians while fighting for Ukraine hit out last night at claims he is a spy – and begged the UK Government to do more to get him home.
Nathan Wood called on the Foreign Office to act after the Kremlin branded Aiden Aslin, 27, an enemy agent rather than a prisoner of war.
Aiden, from Newark, Notts appeared to have been beaten up when he appeared on video after his capture in the besieged city Mariupol.
Tonight a second captured British fighter, Shaun Pinner, 48, was also described as a mercenary and threatened with the death penalty in a chilling video.
Nathan, 25, said: “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.”
In the video of Shaun, the former Royal Anglian Regiment soldier says: “I’m Shaun Pinner, I am a citizen of the UK, I was captured in Mariupol. I am part of the 36 Brigade First Battalion Ukrainian Marines.”
A caption for the video describes him as a foreign mercenary and claims: “He won’t make it home.
“Captured Ukrainian soldiers testify about the atrocities of foreign mercenaries. And after the trial, they face the death penalty.”
Aiden joined the Ukrainian marines in 2018 and has dual UK-Ukrainian citizenship.
After he was forced to surrender he was paraded on Russian TV, with Kremlin-approved reporter Andrey Rudenko claiming the Brit was a mercenary “used [by the West] to perform various delicate tasks”.
Under Russian law, those suspected of spying face interrogation and prison – whereas prisoners of war are released at the end of hostilities.
Social care worker Nathan and mum Angela Wood now fear Aiden will be treated as a spy.
“We have grave concerns and fears especially if he is being treated as a mercenary and not a prisoner of war,” he said.
“The Russian authorities will have had his documents when they seized him, they will know that he is a Ukrainian soldier fighting legitimately.”
Nathan urged the Russians to treat his brother like a human being and a soldier under the Geneva Convention. The family is also pleading with the Government to help get him home but Nathan claims he has not received any updates from the Foreign Office.
He said: “They cannot sit by and leave it in the hands of the Ukrainians. He is Britain’s responsibility too.”
Aiden’s Ukrainian fiancée, who he had been due to marry this summer, has fled the country. Aiden previously fought with Kurdish armed units in Syria against IS.
Tonight the wife of an oligarch pal of Russian President Vladimir Putin arrested in Ukraine called for him to be swapped with the two Brits.
Dubbed Prince of Darkness for his influence on Ukrainian politics, Viktor Medvedchuk, 67, was captured this week.
In a clip on YouTube, Oxana Marchenko said: “I address the relatives of captured citizens of Great Britain Aiden Aslin and of Shaun Pinner.
“It is in your power to ask the PM of your country Boris Johnson to influence Ukrainian leadership and to achieve Aiden’s and Shaun’s release by their exchange for my husband.”
The Foreign Office, which has consistently advised all Britons not to go to Ukraine, said: “We are aware of the detention of a British national and have been in touch with their family to support them.”
