Putin puts RFK Jr.’s son Conor on Russia’s wanted list over Ukraine war | GRAVITAS
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Russian President Vladimir Putin
According to Russia’s state news agency TASS, a Moscow court has authorised the arrest of the 32-year-old Kennedy in absentia. Russian authorities accuse him of serving as a mercenary alongside Ukrainian forces.
A new legal case in Russia has put a member of one of America’s most prominent political families in the spotlight. Conor Kennedy, the son of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has reportedly been placed on Russia’s international wanted list over his involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war.
According to Russia’s state news agency TASS, a Moscow court has authorised the arrest of the 32-year-old Kennedy in absentia. Russian authorities accuse him of serving as a mercenary alongside Ukrainian forces.
Kennedy revealed in an Instagram post in October 2022 that he had joined Ukraine’s International Legion of Foreign Volunteers earlier that year. He said he wanted to help Ukrainians and was willing to risk his life for the cause.
Kennedy had no previous military experience and said his time in Ukraine was brief. Russian authorities allege that he fought alongside Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv region under an assumed identity. That claim has not been independently confirmed.
According to TASS, a conviction could carry a prison sentence of seven to 10 years. Kennedy remains outside Russia, making any immediate trial unlikely.
Russian courts have issued similar rulings involving other foreign volunteers from countries including the United States, Britain, Sweden, Colombia and Georgia.
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The case also carries a political dimension
Kennedy’s father, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., serves in U.S. President Donald Trump’s cabinet as Secretary of Health. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have maintained dialogue since Trump returned to the White House, as efforts continue to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
Conor Kennedy has also attracted attention outside politics. He was previously linked romantically to singer Taylor Swift and married Brazilian singer-songwriter Giulia Be this year. He is also the grand-nephew of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
There is an additional historical connection
John F. Kennedy and the Soviet Union faced one of the most dangerous periods of the Cold War, from the near-nuclear confrontation of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis to a fragile period of cooperation that helped lead to the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
More than six decades later, the Kennedy family name has once again become entangled with a major confrontation involving Russia.