{{Short description|American soldier in Russian military (1960–2024)}} {{about||the American politician from Kentucky|Russell Bentley (politician)}} {{Use American English|date=March 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox military person | name = Russell Bentley | image = Рассел Бентли (cropped).jpg | caption = Bentley in 2015 | native_name = | birth_date = June 20, 1960 | birth_place = Austin, Texas, U.S.<ref name="smith" /> | death_date = {{circa}} {{death date and age|April 8, 2024|June 20, 1960}} | death_place = Donetsk, Russian-occupied Ukraine | death_cause = Tortured to death | nickname = {{plainlist| *Bonner *Texas *The Donbas Cowboy }} | birth_name = Russell Bonner Bentley III | allegiance = Russia | branch = {{Tree list}} * {{flagicon image|War flag of Novorussia.svg}} Russian people's militias in Ukraine ** {{flagicon image|Flag of Donetsk People's Republic.svg}} Donetsk People's Militia *** Vostok Battalion {{tree list/end}} | service_years = 2014–2024 | rank = | unit = | battles = {{Tree list}} * Russo-Ukrainian War ** War in Donbas *** Battle of Mariupol *** Second Battle of Donetsk Airport ** Russian invasion of Ukraine {{tree list/end}} }}
'''Russell Bonner Bentley III''' ({{langx|ru|Рассел Бентли|Rassel Bentli}}; June 20, 1960 – April 8, 2024), also known as '''Texas''' ({{langx|ru|Техас}}, pronounced "Tekhas") and the '''Donbas Cowboy''', was an American pro-Donetsk People's Republic/pro-Russia figure in the war in Donbas and Russian invasion of Ukraine, and a self-described "information warrior".<ref name="smith">{{cite web |title=War of Words: Meet the Texan Trolling for Putin |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/son-wealthy-businessman-foot-soldier-vladimir-putin-russia-hacking/|website=Texas Monthly|last1=Smith |first1=Sonia |access-date=April 15, 2024 |language=en |date=March 21, 2018}}</ref><ref name= "Rolling"/><ref name="Independent">{{cite web |last1=Sengupta |first1=Kim |title=Ukraine crisis: Meet the foreign nationals fighting for the Donetsk People's Republic |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-crisis-meet-the-foreign-nationals-fighting-for-the-donetsk-people-s-republic-10514796.html |work=The Independent |date=24 September 2015 |access-date=27 March 2024}}</ref>
Prior to his activities in Donbas, Bentley was a marijuana activist who stood for election in the U.S. Senate, and a convicted drug trafficker who spent five years in prison and several years as a fugitive.<ref name="Rolling"/><ref>{{cite magazine|title=How a Texan Trolling for Putin Met His End|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/russell-bentley-russian-propagandist-death/|magazine=Texas Monthly|access-date=20 January 2025|date=16 May 2024}}</ref> Bentley moved to Donbas in late 2014, becoming a pro-Russian combatant and YouTuber until his channel was deleted in early 2022, and also working for the Russian state-owned Sputnik news agency as a war correspondent.<ref name= "Rolling">{{cite magazine|title=The Bizarre Story of How a Hardcore Texas Leftist Became a Frontline Putin Propagandist|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/russell-texas-bentley-putin-propaganda-ukraine-interview-1315433/|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=4 April 2025|date=3 March 2022}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=2024-04-19 |title=US citizen who fought with pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine reported dead |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/19/us-citizen-dead-russia-separatists-ukraine |access-date=2024-04-20 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="newsweek">{{cite news| title=Exclusive: Russell Bentley, Texas Man in Russian Army, Says He's 'Liberating' Ukraine | website=Newsweek| date=3 March 2022 | url=https://www.newsweek.com/russell-texas-bentley-interview-pro-russia-donbas-ukraine-1684450| access-date=11 September 2022}}</ref><ref name="NYT">{{cite news|title=Pro-Kremlin Texan Russell Bentley, who fought for Russia, found dead in Ukraine|work=New York Post| url=https://nypost.com/2024/04/20/world-news/pro-kremlin-texan-russell-bentley-found-dead-in-ukraine/|date=April 20, 2024|access-date=October 19, 2024}}</ref> He became a naturalized Russian citizen in 2020. In April 2024 he was kidnapped and murdered by Russian soldiers in what may have been a case of mistaken identity.<ref name="Rolling" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name="NYT" /><ref name="Seibt">{{cite news |title=Who was the 'Donbass Cowboy', the pro-Russian Texan who died in Donetsk? |last=Seibt |first=Sebastion |url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240427-who-was-the-donbass-cowboy-the-pro-russian-texan-who-died-in-donetsk |work=France 24 |location=Paris |date=April 27, 2024 |access-date=August 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816195920/https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240427-who-was-the-donbass-cowboy-the-pro-russian-texan-who-died-in-donetsk |archive-date=16 August 2024}}</ref>
==Biography== ===Early life=== Bentley was born in 1960 to a wealthy family in Austin, Texas. Until Bentley was age eight, they lived in Highland Park, Texas, which Bentley later described as "very exclusive" and "basically the Beverly Hills of Dallas."<ref name= "Rolling"/> As a teenager, Bentley read leftist literature and became a socialist, later describing himself as the "black sheep" of his family due to his support of leftist causes.<ref name= "Rolling"/> He attended high school at 16 for one semester before dropping out. He later attained his GED, and at age 20 was convinced by his father to join the U.S. Army, in which he served for three years in Louisiana and Germany. After an honorable discharge he moved to South Padre Island where he partied for years, worked as a waiter and playing guitar in "The Asbestos Band", which played a mix of covers. Bentley was known as "Bongo" at this time.<ref name="smith"/><ref name= "Rolling"/>
===Marijuana activism, imprisonment, fugitive=== In 1990 Bentley followed a girlfriend to move to Minneapolis, initially working as a lumberjack. He became a pro-marijuana activist, joining the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the pro-legalization Grassroots Party. In 1990 at age 30, he ran as a U.S. Senate candidate for the Grassroots Party in Minnesota, gathering 1.65% of the vote. Bentley visited communist Cuba in the mid-1990s and became a communist himself.<ref name="smith" /><ref name= "Rolling"/> He was also selling marijuana, and in February 1996 he was convicted of felony trafficking of marijuana and sentenced to five years and three months prison. Although he was due for release at the end of 1999, that August Bentley broke out of the minimum-security prison.<ref name= "Rolling"/> He lived as a fugitive for the next few years, mostly in Washington state. He took part in the anti-globalization protest against the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle in 1999, describing that as "the last time that I was really proud to be an American". He was recaptured in 2007 and served the remainder of his sentence in a maximum-security prison. He was released the following summer under supervision until 2012, which included a twelve-step program and a ban on intoxicants.<ref name="smith" /><ref name= "Rolling"/> Bentley was so enraged at the 2011 killing of Muammar Gaddafi that he donned rock climbing gear and scaled a US Marine Corps recruiting billboard in Austin, defacing it with "FUCK NATO" in six-foot letters.<ref name="Rolling" /> By 2014, Bentley was working as an arborist in Round Rock, Texas.<ref name="burton">{{cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/who-russell-bentley-texas-man-pro-russia-ukraine-1683618 |title=Who is Russell Bonner Bentley? Texas Man 'On the Front With Russian Troops' in Ukraine |date=1 March 2022 |access-date=2024-03-27 |publisher=Newsweek}}</ref>
===In Donbas===
====Early years==== In 2014, Bentley was following the war in Donbas. After the Ukrainian air strike on Luhansk on June 2, 2014, Bentley was moved by video of a fatally wounded young woman.<ref name= "Rolling"/> Despite not speaking Russian, he resolved to take arms against the Ukrainian forces. He broke up with his yoga-instructor girlfriend, left his job as an estimator for a tree-trimming company, and arrived in Donetsk on December 7, 2014. Bentley financed his activities with a GoFundMe campaign titled "Fact Finding Mission to Donbass".<ref name="newsweek" />
Arriving in Donbas in late 2014, Bentley decided to fight for the Donetsk People's Republic, perceiving it as a battle against fascism and injustices in Ukraine. Bentley acquired the nom de guerre "Texas", and was also known as the "Donbass Cowboy" in Russian, rather than Ukrainian, orthography.<ref>{{cite web|last=Vitkine|first=Benoît|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/05/05/russell-texas-bentley-the-life-and-death-of-an-american-from-donetsk_6670456_4.html|title=Russell 'Texas' Bentley: The life and death of an American from Donetsk|newspaper=Le Monde|place=Paris|date=2024-05-05|access-date=2024-09-23}}</ref><ref name=SmithTXMonth>{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Sonia|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/russell-bentley-russian-propagandist-death/|title=How a Texan Trolling for Putin Met His End|magazine=Texas Monthly|place=Austin, Texas|date=2024-05-16|access-date=2024-09-23}}</ref>
In 2015, ''The Independent'' wrote that his involvement "highlights the complex motivations behind foreign participation in the conflict".<ref name="Independent"/> Bentley fought for the Vostok Battalion and XAH Spetsnaz Battalion in 2014, 2015 and 2017. In 2015, Bentley began uploading videos to YouTube, and focused on these activities after he stopped fighting in 2017.<ref name=":0"/> The BBC featured Bentley in a July 2017 article titled "The communist soldier using charity sites to fund his war". The article also featured Bentley's friend Graham Phillips, and also Patrick Lancaster who distanced himself from Bentley and was critical of Bentley's use of crowdfunding, leading to restrictions on his crowdfunding activities.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-40647061 |title=The communist soldier using charity sites to fund his war |date=24 July 2017 |access-date=2024-03-27 |publisher=BBC News}}</ref>
Bentley received a Donetsk People's Republic passport in 2017.<ref name="smith"/>
====Later years and death==== In 2020, Bentley received full Russian citizenship.<ref name="Rolling"/><ref name=SmithTXMonth/> At the beginning of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Bentley posted a video stating that he and Russian soldiers would be "bringing the hammer down" on Ukraine. The video went viral before being deleted by YouTube, and Bentley's channel was removed from YouTube. Bentley told ''Rolling Stone'', in an article titled ''The Bizarre Story of How a Hardcore Texas Leftist Became a Frontline Putin Propagandist'', "I don't give a fuck what they think about me in the United States.... the government — or most of the people".<ref name= "Rolling"/> Bentley focused on work for Russian state media and social media channels for the next two years.<ref name=":0"/>
Bentley was reported missing in the Petrovsky region on April 8, 2024. His wife said he had been detained by unidentified Russian military personnel.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |title=American missing in Russian-controlled east Ukraine, say local police |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-journalist-missing-russian-controlled-eastern-ukraine-say-local-police-2024-04-12/ |website=Reuters |access-date=15 April 2024}}</ref> After an 11 day campaign to find Bentley, on April 19 the Vostok Battalion confirmed Bentley's death via social media.<ref name=":0" /><ref>[https://t.me/batalyon_vostok/306 Батальон Восток]</ref> Alexander Khodakovsky, a senior Vostok battalion figure, demanded on his Telegram channel that "those who killed Russell Bentley" be punished, but later deleted the message.<ref>[https://meduza.io/news/2024/04/20/amerikanets-rassel-bentli-rabotavshiy-na-rossiyskuyu-propagandu-pogib-v-donetske-rossiyskie-tankisty-zaderzhali-ego-posle-udara-po-voennoy-chasti Американец Рассел Бентли, работавший на российскую пропаганду, погиб в Донецке.]</ref><ref>[https://war.obozrevatel.com/v-dnr-rossijskie-tankistyi-ugnali-i-ubili-izvestnogo-amerikanskogo-kommunista-foto.htm В "ДНР" российские танкисты выкрали и убили известного американского коммуниста.]</ref><ref>[https://www.unian.net/russianworld/rassel-bentli-ubit-v-donecke-veroyatno-rossiyskimi-soldatami-12610872.html В Донецке российские военные убили американца, воевавшего за "ДНР" с 2014 года]</ref><ref>[https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-20-2024 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 20, 2024] Institute for the Study of War, April 20, 2024. Retrieved April 21, 2024.</ref>
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".<ref name="Seibt"/> Reports from ''Le Monde'' and Belsat indicated that the soldiers—who were allegedly intoxicated—accused Bentley of acting as a spotter for Ukrainian rocket artillery.<ref name="LeMonde2024">{{cite news |last1=Lemaître |first1=Frédéric |title=Russell 'Texas' Bentley: The life and death of an American from Donetsk |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/05/05/russell-texas-bentley-the-life-and-death-of-an-american-from-donetsk_6670456_4.html |work=Le Monde |date=5 May 2024 |access-date=24 February 2026 }}</ref><ref name="Belsat2024" /> Sources close to the leadership of the Donetsk People's Republic further alleged that Bentley had been subject to sexual violence before his death; ''Le Monde'' reported that the military board of inquiry had opened investigations into both murder and rape.<ref name="LeMonde2024" /><ref name="Belsat2024">{{cite news |title=Russian soldiers will stand trial for the murder of American Russell Bentley |url=https://en.belsat.eu/82418954/russian-soldiers-will-stand-trial-for-the-murder-of-american-russell-bentley |publisher=Belsat |date=20 September 2024 |access-date=24 February 2026}}</ref> On April 28, Bentley's Telegram channel reported that his vehicle had been found near the frontline, incinerated with his remains inside in an apparent attempt to conceal the crime.<ref name="LeMonde2024" /> Al Jazeera 360 documented Bentley's story in ''A Diary of a Fighter''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Russell Bentley: Pro-Russia fighter from US dies after Donetsk 'abduction' |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/29/russell-bentley-pro-russia-fighter-from-texas-disappears-in-donetsk |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref>
In September 2024, four Russian servicemen, Vitaly Vasnyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin and Andrey Yordanov, were accused of abuse of authority resulting in Bentley's death (article 286 of Russia's Criminal Code), desecration of his body (article 244), and concealment of crimes (articles 33 and 316). The Investigative Committee of Russia heard that Agaltsev and Yordanov killed Bentley on April 8, placed his body in a vehicle which was subsequently blown up in an attempt to cover up the murder, then moved his remains to another location with the assistance of Vasnyatsky and Bazhin.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Мотызлевская |first=Полина |date=20 September 2024 |title=СКР установил всех причастных к убийству военкора Рассела Бентли |trans-title=The Investigative Committee of Russia has identified all those involved in the murder of war correspondent Russell Bentley |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/7168318?from=top_main_1 |access-date=20 September 2024 |website=Kommersant |language=ru}}</ref> The suspects were members of the Russian Army's 5th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade based in Donetsk Oblast and under the command of Major General Pavel Klimenko.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/11/08/russian-general-alleged-to-have-organized-torture-camp-killed-in-ukraine-reports-a86946 |title=Russian General Alleged to Have Organized Torture Camp Killed in Ukraine – Reports |publisher=The Moscow Times |date=2024-11-08 |access-date=2024-11-08 |language=en}}</ref> ''Newsweek'' wrote that Bentley had supposedly been misidentified as a spy. Bentley was reportedly taken to a cave and tortured to death, before being put into a car which was then destroyed with explosives. Bentley's body had not been recovered at the time of the ''Newsweek'' article.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/russia-charges-soldiers-over-torture-murder-texan-russell-bentley-1956749 |title=Russia Charges Soldiers Over Torture, Murder of Texan Russell Bentley |website=Newsweek |date=20 September 2024 |access-date=31 January 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
Klimenko was killed by a Ukrainian drone on November 6, 2024, before Bentley's body had been recovered.<ref name=Times>{{Cite news |author=Tom Parfitt |date=2024-11-08 |title=Russian 'torture camp general' killed in Ukraine drone strike |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/russian-torture-camp-general-killed-in-ukraine-drone-strike-lc8pmlp5l |access-date=2025-07-27 |work=The Times }}</ref> On December 8, 2025, Vasnyatsky, Agaltsev, Bazhin, and Yordanov were sentenced by a court-martial in Donetsk to up to 12 years' imprisonment over Bentley's killing, with Vansyatsky, Yordanov and Agaltsev stripped of their ranks.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-12-08 |title=Court in Occupied Donetsk Jails Russian Soldiers in Killing of American Fighter |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/12/08/court-in-occupied-donetsk-jails-russian-soldiers-in-killing-of-american-fighter-a91361 |access-date=2025-12-08 |website=The Moscow Times}}</ref>
==Electoral history== {{Election box begin no change | title = 1990 United States Senate election in Minnesota<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=3513|title = Our Campaigns - MN US Senate Race - Nov 06, 1990}}</ref>}} {{Election box winning candidate with party link no change | party = Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party | candidate = Paul Wellstone | votes = 911,999 | percentage = 50.49% }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change | party = Independent-Republicans of Minnesota | candidate = Rudy Boschwitz (incumbent) | votes = 864,375 | percentage = 47.86% }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change | party = Grassroots Party | candidate = Russell B. Bentley | votes = 29,820 | percentage = 1.65% }} {{Election box total no change | votes = 1,806,194 | percentage = 100.00% }} {{Election box end}}
== See also == <!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order by LAST NAME ♦♦♦---> * Eva Bartlett – Canadian activist and journalist * Jackson Hinkle – American political commentator * Patrick Lancaster – American vlogger * Gonzalo Lira – Chilean-American YouTuber * Graham Phillips – British journalist * Scott Ritter – American author and commentator * Sonja van den Ende – Dutch citizen journalist and political activist * Russian information war against Ukraine
== References == <references/>
==External links== * {{Telegram|TXDPR}} * {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cA9cGUGr00|title=Meet the Texan Fighting for the DPR: Russian Roulette (Dispatch 107)|publisher=Vice|date=2015-04-23|via=YouTube}} - Russell Bentley, VICE interview on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Russell}} Category:1960 births Category:2024 deaths Category:American bloggers Category:American communists Category:Russian bloggers Category:Russian communists Category:Activists from Texas Category:United States Army soldiers Category:Date of birth missing Category:People murdered in Ukraine Category:Pro-Russian people of the war in Donbas Category:Pro-Russia foreign volunteers in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Category:Russian military personnel killed in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Category:Military of the Donetsk People's Republic Category:American male bloggers Category:Russian male bloggers Category:2020s missing person cases Category:Formerly missing American people Category:Grassroots Party politicians Category:American cannabis traffickers Category:American cannabis activists Category:American people convicted of drug offenses Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy Category:Naturalized citizens of Russia Category:American torture victims