Four Russian Soldiers Charged with Torturing and Killing Pro-Kremlin American Volunteer
Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Russell Bentley, a Texas man who as the "Donbas Cowboy" gained notoriety for joining Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine, was ironically tortured before being killed in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk, Russian authorities said.
They also said that his alleged abductors tried to cover up the death by detonating a car containing his body.
In a statement released on 20 Sep, the Investigative Committee said four members of the Russian armed forces -- Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin, and Andrei Iordanov -- had been charged in connection with Bentleys death in April.
Bentley (64) was a fixture in the low-level Russian incursion in Ukraine dating back to 2014. Calling himself the "Donbas Cowboy", Bentley became a popular figure on Russian propaganda networks for his criticism of the US government.
Bentley, whose military call sign was "Texas", went missing in Donetsk in April.
Read more: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-bentley-torture-death-soldiers/33127501.html
US citizen Russell Bentley joined pro-Kremlin forces and was allegedly tortured and killed by Russian soldiers in April. Undated image from WIKIMEDIA/CREATIVE COMMONS (C)
Margarita Simonyan, Russia's leading pro-Kremlin journalist and editor in chief of the state-controlled broadcaster RT, wrote on X at the time that Bentley died for "our people" in Donetsk.
The commander of the Russia-backed separatists' Vostok Battalion, Aleksandr Khodakovsky, said on Telegram then that "those who killed Russell Bentley" will face "punishment." But the message was removed from Telegram shortly after it was posted.
Bentleys wife, Lyudmila, then claimed that Russian soldiers from a tank battalion abducted him.
According to the Investigative Committee, Vansyatsky, Agaltsev, and Iordanov tortured Bentley on 8 Apr and he died shortly afterward. Vansyatsky and Agaltsev are suspected of blowing up a car with Bentleys body in it and ordering Bazhin to get rid of what was left of his remains.
The four men have been charged with abuse of power, torture that led to a death, desecration of a body, and conspiracy to hide a body.
The Investigative Committee did not specify why the four men tortured Bentley to death, but many of his friends in Donetsk have suggested that the Texan may have been mistaken for a spy.
Bentley fought for the Vostok battalion between 2014 and 2017 and obtained Russian citizenship in 2021.
AltairIV
(686 posts)UpInArms
(51,908 posts)It is Dumbass Cowboy
Wonder Why
(4,718 posts)C0RI0LANUS
(1,871 posts)marble falls
(62,523 posts)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Bentley
Russell Bonner Bentley III[2] (Russian: Рассел Бентли, romanized: Rassel Bentli; 1960 8 April 2024), also known as Texas and the Donbass Cowboy, was an American man who served in Vostok Battalion and XAH Spetsnaz Battalion in 2014, 2015 and 2017 on the side of the Donetsk People's Republic. He was a YouTuber until his channel was deleted in early 2022.[3][failed verification] He also worked for the Russian state-owned Sputnik news agency as a war correspondent.[4] Prior to his activities in the Donbas, he was a marijuana activist and smuggler who was later convicted of drug smuggling and spent five years in prison.
Biography
Early life
Bentley was born in 1960 in Austin, and grew up in Highland Park, Texas until he was eight. Bentley began reading leftist literature as a teenager and became a socialist. At 16, he attended high school for one semester before dropping out. Bentley later got his GED, and at age 20, was convinced by his father to join the U.S. Army. He served in the army for three years, and was stationed in Louisiana and Germany. After being honorably discharged from the army, he moved to South Padre Island where he worked as a waiter.[1][5]
Marijuana activism, conviction and imprisonment
In 1990, Bentley moved to Minneapolis. Initially working as a lumberjack, he later sold marijuana instead. He became a marijuana activist, joining the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the pro-legalization Grassroots Party. At age 30, he ran as a U.S. Senate third-party candidate for the Grassroots Party in the 1990 election, gathering 1.65% of the vote. In the mid 1990s, Bentley would also visit communist Cuba, where he deepened his leftist convictions, becoming a communist himself.[1][5] In February 1996, Bentley's house was raided by the police and he was arrested for felony trafficking of marijuana. He received a sentence of five years and three months. Although he was supposed to be released at the end of 1999, in August 1999, Bentley escaped from prison. He lived as a fugitive until 2007, when he was captured and sent to a maximum-security prison to serve the remainder of his sentence. He was released from prison the following summer.[1][5]
Pro-Russian activism
By 2014, Bentley was working as an arborist in Round Rock, Texas.[6] Bentley left his life in the United States, including a relationship with a yoga instructor, to join pro-Russian forces in Donetsk in Ukraine, motivated by a desire to combat Ukrainian forces.[5] He arrived in Donetsk on December 7, 2014.[3] He utilized crowdfunding platforms to finance his involvement in the Ukraine conflict, setting up a GoFundMe campaign to finance his move to the Donbas on a self-described "Fact Finding Mission to Donbass".[7]
Military and political stance
Bentley decided to fight for the Donetsk People's Republic. He expressed a strong commitment to what he perceived as a "battle against fascism", driven by the desire to take a stand against what he saw as "injustices in Ukraine". The Independent wrote that his involvement highlights the complex motivations behind foreign participation in the conflict.[2]
Disappearance and death
According to the local police and his wife, Bentley went missing on April 8, 2024.[8] His wife reported he had been detained by unidentified Russian military personnel.[4] The Vostok Battalion confirmed his death on April 19, 2024, via social media.[9][4] Alexander Khodakovsky, one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed DPR, demanded in his telegram channel that those who killed Russell Bentley be punished, but later deleted this message.[10][11][12][13]The template Excessive citations inline is being considered for deletion. [excessive citations]
According to Stephen Hall, a researcher on Russian affairs at the University of Bath, the "most likely scenario is that [Bentley] was killed by Russian soldiers who mistook him for an American spy."[14]
Al Jazeera 360 documented Bentleys story in A Diary of a Fighter.[15]
Four Russian servicemen, Vitaly Vasnyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin and Andrey Yordanov, were charged with abuse of authority resulting in death (article 286 of Criminal Code), desecration of bodies (article 244) and concealment of crimes (article 33 and 316). The Investigative Committee declared Bentley was killed on 8 April, his body placed in his car and blown up, then his remains moved to "another location".[16]
C0RI0LANUS
(1,871 posts)marble falls
(62,523 posts)C0RI0LANUS
(1,871 posts)Blue Owl
(54,921 posts)And let them find out how glorious it is to live under the rule of a strongman like the one tRump idolizes
C0RI0LANUS
(1,871 posts)Comfortably_Numb
(4,121 posts)MarineCombatEngineer
(14,466 posts)Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Farmer-Rick
(11,538 posts)You lose...always
He's one very mixed up ignorant man. His end was very predictable.
Baitball Blogger
(48,431 posts)ArkansasDemocrat1
(3,213 posts)617Blue
(1,624 posts)Botany
(72,662 posts)Oh well. Murderous thugs might not be nice guys.
tom_kelly
(1,050 posts)Jirel
(2,259 posts)Not seeing a problem. Maybe itll help dissuade more crap-stains from running to Putins aid.
ArkansasDemocrat1
(3,213 posts)niyad
(120,665 posts)irisblue
(34,412 posts)mdbl
(5,507 posts)just my opinion.
irisblue
(34,412 posts)His crimes were extensive and awful.
I also remember the sweet 4 yr old he once was, I know the criminal he became by his own choices.
Humans are complex
infullview
(1,061 posts)Lesson in unintended consequences.
Justice matters.
(7,591 posts)That other idiot FAFO big time.
Playingmantis
(280 posts)SunSeeker
(54,063 posts)Beastly Boy
(11,318 posts)Apparently, "irony" does not translate well into Russian.
Arne
(3,608 posts)cactusfractal
(569 posts)one might ironically torture someone. 😉
C0RI0LANUS
(1,871 posts)Marcuse
(8,050 posts)Lucky Luciano
(11,487 posts)Probably past reproduction age or I would nominate him for a Darwin Award.
Sort of like a queer for Palestine actually going to Palestine to fight the good fight.
What a maroon! Whats up doc?