Moscow — An American who spied on Ukrainian troops to assist Moscow’s navy offensive within the nation has been granted Russian citizenship, Moscow-installed authorities stated Tuesday. Daniel Martindale spent two years in Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, transmitting coordinates of navy services to Russia’s secret companies, in response to stories in Russian state media.
“By decree of our President Vladimir Putin, a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation was awarded to Daniel Martindale,” Denis Pushilin, the pinnacle of the Russian-occupied a part of Ukraine’s Donetsk area stated on the Telegram messaging app, including that Martindale had “lengthy since confirmed along with his loyalty and actions that he’s one in every of us.”
“He spent greater than two years within the territory below enemy management. And never solely did he survive — he helped. He supported our guys, handed on necessary data to our particular companies, risked his life,” he added.
Telegram/Reuters
Martindale acquired his passport from inside ministry officers at a ceremony in Moscow, in response to state media and a video revealed by Pushilin.
Martindale thanked Russia for “accepting me,” and stated changing into a Russian citizen was a “dream.”
“Russia will not be solely my dwelling, however my household,” he stated in Russian on the video.
After two years spying on Ukraine, he was extracted in “a fancy evacuation operation” after Moscow began to worry his life was in peril if he stayed any longer, Pushilin stated.
In November 2024, state media reported Russian safety forces had taken him to Russia and Martindale lodged his utility for Russian citizenship.
A Telegram account purporting to be his posted that very same month: “Howdy, I am Daniel Martindale, the man that Russian troopers risked their lives to evacuate from the village the place I had lived for 2 years.”
Round that very same time, Martindale instructed pro-Russian bloggers that he had arrived in Ukraine shortly earlier than Russia launched its invasion, hoping to achieve the Ukrainian border area of Donetsk. Martindale instructed the bloggers he had contacted Russian intelligence companies on his personal initiative and was instructed to go to the town of Vuhledar and await Russian forces to reach. He stated he remained within the metropolis, pretending to be a missionary, till the autumn of 2024, when Russian troops seized the town after a protracted battle.
Ukrainian journalists have discovered some proof to recommend that Martindale could have been recruited by Russian companies years earlier, as he visited Russia between 2016 and 2019, taking college programs. In accordance with some stories, he was deported from Russia in 2019 for violating labor legal guidelines.
