In a video shared online on 4 April, Townsend featured alongside Ben Stimson and Aiden Minnis – who were given Russian citizenship for fighting in the occupied Donbas region.
In the video, uploaded to a Russian recruitment account, Townsend described himself as “a normal working-class lad from Yorkshire”.
Filmed by Stimson with Minnis interviewing, Townsend discussed the implications of his decision to leave the UK and fight for Russia during the video.
He said: “I came with the idea that I probably won’t be able to go home, definitely get persecuted if I went back.”
He later added: “I’m not here for a suicide mission, but I understand that’s what can happen.”
Stimson, from Oldham, and Minnis, from Wiltshire, are believed to be the first British nationals fighting for Russian president Vladimir Putin since he ordered the full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Stimson was previously jailed in the UK in 2015 for joining pro-Russian separatists in the east of Ukraine.