Wilmer Puello-Mota, a former elected official in a small Massachusetts city, was expected to enter a guilty plea in Rhode Island in early January, but did not show up to court, according to prosecutors. Last week, video surfaced that appears to show the 28-year-old in Russia and expressing support for the country’s war against Ukraine — footage that could be used to promote Moscow’s narrative of the conflict.

His lawyer, John M. Cicilline, told The Boston Globe that he called Puello-Mota on Jan. 8, the day before he was expected to plead guilty. According to prosecutors, he boarded a flight from Washington, D.C., to Istanbul, Turkey, a day earlier.

“He said, `I joined the Russian army,’ or something like that,” Cicilline told the Globe. “I thought he was joking.”