A former Air National Guardsman who fled to Russia amid criminal charges of possessing child pornography appears to now be serving in the Russian military as a drone operator — but he denies betraying the U.S., according to videos released Monday by Russia’s Ministry of Defence.
Wilmer Puello-Mota, 28, a former security forces technical sergeant with the Massachusetts Air National Guard, fled the U.S. at the beginning of the year and appeared in videos and social media posts in April claiming that he was intent on joining Putin’s army after already having helped fight in a key city in eastern Ukraine.
Puello-Mota’s flight to Russia occurred as a legal case for possession of child pornography that began in 2020 wound its way through the Rhode Island court system and, according to local outlets, was at a plea deal.
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In a video released on the instant-messaging service Telegram by the Ministry of Defence, a man adorned in military camouflage and armor, complete with a Russian flag on his chest, told viewers, “I’m Will. I’m from Massachusetts, Boston,” before adding that he goes by the call sign “Boston.”
In the video, Puello-Mota says that he served for 10 years in the Air Force before joining the Air National Guard and that his job was “air base defense … it’s military police, security forces.”
“We deal with things like drones and…
