Conor Kennedy, the son of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been placed on Russia’s international wanted list over his role fighting for Ukraine against Russian forces, according to multiple reports.
Moscow’s Basmanny District Court approved Kennedy’s “arrest in absentia,” alleging that he served as a mercenary with Ukraine’s armed forces, Russian state news agency TASS reported last week.
If detained, the 32-year-old could face a prison sentence of seven to 10 years, the outlet reported.
Kennedy publicly disclosed in an October 2022 Instagram post that he had quietly traveled to Kyiv and joined an international legion fighting on the front lines after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine. He said at the time that only one person knew where he had gone.
“Like many people, I was deeply moved by what I saw happening in Ukraine over the past year. I wanted to help. When I heard about Ukraine’s International Legion, I knew I was going, and I went to the embassy to enlist the next day,” he wrote in the post.
“I told one person here where I was, and I told one person there my real name. I didn’t want my family or friends to worry, and I didn’t want to be treated differently there.”
The third child of RFK Jr. said he arrived with no formal military background and admitted he “wasn’t a great shot,” though he noted he could carry heavy loads and “learned fast.”
“I was also willing to die there,” Kennedy wrote. “So they soon agreed to send me to the northeastern front.”
He kept his enlistment from his dad and stepmom, Cheryl Hines, explaining to them that he had simply decided against working at a Los Angeles law firm that summer, People reported.
The grandson of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy asked his parents not to question his whereabouts and maintained he was doing something he believed in.
“We asked him when he was starting [the job at the law firm],” RFK Jr. previously told the outlet.
“He had a good job and we were looking forward to having him stay with us. And he told us that he had given notice to the law firm and he was doing something else instead.”
Then credit card bills started showing charges in Poland and Ukraine, raising their suspicions, the outlet reported.
“When he got back, I kind of expressed some — I don’t know — whether it’s anger or whatever,” RFK Jr. said.
“He said to me, when he heard maybe a little bit of anger and concern, ‘Dad, this is what you taught me to do: to stand up for what I believe in.’ And I was like ‘okay.’ ”
“I’m very proud of this. Of my son,” the Trump administration Cabinet secretary added.
“And I knew his views about the war were not aligned with mine. Although he’s not naive at all about it. … He’d been arguing vociferously for the U.S. intervention and he didn’t want to be one of these people supporting a war and sitting on the sideline.”
Kennedy, who previously had a whirlwind romance with Taylor Swift before marrying Brazilian singer-songwriter Giulia Be this year, resumed his law studies at Georgetown University after two and a half months on the front lines in Ukraine.
He is currently listed as an associate attorney at Wisner Baum’s Los Angeles office.
Other foreign volunteers have been named on the Kremlin’s wanted list, including US citizen Ingram Asbill Tracy James, 37, and British citizen Shorney Joseph Richard Ryan, the outlet said.
Neither Kennedy nor a spokesperson for RFK. Jr immediately responded to The Post’s request for comment.
