Russell Bentley was a long-time supporter of Russia, having fought against Ukrainian forces since 2014 - Newsweek
The Telegraph: Four Russian soldiers have been charged by the Kremlin with killing a US citizen.
Russell Bentley, 64, who fought alongside pro-Putin rebels in eastern Ukraine, was tortured and murdered by Russian servicemen, Kremlin investigators said on Friday.
Bentley, a self-described communist from Dallas, Texas, went missing in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in April and was later found dead.
Nicknamed “Texas”, he regularly appeared on pro-Kremlin social media channels, backing Moscow’s full-scale military offensive.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which looks into major crimes, identified the suspects as Russian Armed Forces servicemen Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin and Andrei Iordanov.
It is a rare instance of Russia accusing active soldiers in Ukraine – who are glorified at home – of committing crimes.
According to investigators, three of the men tortured Bentley on April 8, leading to his death. Vansyatsky and Agaltsev then allegedly blew up a car with Bentley’s body inside and ordered Bazhin to conceal the remains.
The men face charges including abuse of power resulting in death, desecration and concealment of a body.
The Donetsk region of Ukraine has been the subject of fierce fighting - ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images)
The motive behind Bentley’s murder is not known, but allies of the deceased soldier have speculated that he may have been mistaken for a spy. Bentley’s wife, Lyudmila, previously claimed that Russian soldiers from a tank battalion abducted him.
She had issued an appeal to Vladimir Putin to help find her husband’s remains.
Following Bentley’s death, the Vostok Battalion, of which he was a member, released a statement on Telegram calling for “those who killed Russell Bentley” to be handed an “exemplary punishment”.
Bentley was a long-time supporter of the Kremlin, having joined pro-Russia separatists in 2014 to fight against Ukrainian forces following the occupation of Crimea.
He fought for the Donetsk-based Vostok battalion between 2014 and 2017 and became a Russian citizen in 2021.
Bentley is understood to have served in the US military as a young adult before returning to civilian life and mounting a third-party bid for the Senate in Minnesota.
He is believed to have served time in prison in the US for trafficking cannabis.
In World
-
Pyongyang went loud and proud on Monday about its plans for nuclear weapons as the United Nations grilled its representative over a recent missile launch.
-
Russia on Tuesday denounced Moldova's weekend election as unfair and said it did not see the winner, Maia Sandu, as the legitimate president of the country.
-
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Monday he had discussed with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock the "need for decisive action" in response to North Korean involvement in the war with Russia.
-
South Korea and the European Union on Monday jointly condemned North Korea's supply of weaponry to Moscow and demanded that it withdraw troops it has sent as Russia wages war against Ukraine.
Leave a review