Reslight 2Russell never claimed to be the faithful and wise servant and he never claimed to be the Laodicean angel. These claims were made by others.
Well, yes, strictly speaking, as it was his wife Maria who called him the faithfull and wise servant. He didn't reject it, and when it's your wife who is calling you such, most people would assume that he must have approved of the idea at the very least - otherwise he would have soon " shut that shit down" as Negan would say!