I was Correct About the American-Born Pro-Russian Propagandist Russell "Texas" Bentley Being Dead

The Russian state media is now reporting that he is dead

I was apparently too soon when I uploaded my last post yesterday where I wrote about the disappearence of the American-born pro-Russia propagandist Russell “Texas” Bentley in Donetsk (located in the Russian-occupied area of Ukraine) because one day later there's an update about his ultimate fate. The Russian state media is now reporting that Texas is officially dead even though there is no word about his body being recovered. I definitely called it on him being dead because he had gone missing in a war zone and his disappearance went on for 11 days before the Russian media finally announced his death.

Here's a brief recap of events. Bentley and his wife, Lyudmila, had gone to an office in downtown Donetsk to deal with some administrative documents. At the same time there was a Ukrainian strike in that area. Bentley decided to go in the direction of the smoke looking for anyone who needed help. When Bentley didn't return, his wife had gone looking for him. She found his car, which had his baseball cap, his glasses, and a broken phone. Lyudmila later posted on her husband's Telegram channel that her husband had been abducted by the 5th Brigade of the Russian Federation Armed Forces. When people suggested that Bentley was kidnapped because he was filming something that he shouldn't be filming, Lyudmila clarified that she had experts check his broken phone and there were no photos or videos that were recently shot.

Soon messages began to surface on other Telegram channels about Bentley was taken by this Russian brigade because they thought that he was a NATO spy. This message is typical of the messages that had been surfacing, where the unknown writer claimed that the men who took Bentley into custody were drunk but they thought that he was filming military equipment so they interrogated him. Then they gang raped him. After the rape one of the officers said that it was no longer possible to let Bentley go. This was written when Bentley's fate was unknown.

Other messages surfaced that repeated the story that a group of military personnel had kidnapped Bentley, accused him of being a NATO spy, and raped him. The only difference is that they were now saying that he had been killed.

The Eastern European media outlet Nexta is the only media outlet who has reported that Bentley was gang raped by this military brigade before he was killed. Most of the Western media outlets haven't mentioned anything about rape.

On the surface it may sound preposterous for a Russian brigade to rape a man who was very loyal to Vladimir Putin, had made pro-Putin propaganda over the years, and had even become a Russian citizen. But I read some of the discussions on Twitter/X and did a Google search and found that it's not only not unusual for male Russian soldiers to be raped by other male Russian soldiers but such things are actively encouraged. There's even a term for this: Dedovshchina.

Bentley was 64 years old when he was killed. As of this writing there has been no official word of his body being recovered so all this talk about what might have happened in Bentley's final moments is speculation at this point.

As I wrote in my first post about this guy, he led a very colorful life where he was born into a wealthy family in Texas, discovered the writings of Che Guevara at the age of 12, ultimately dropped out of high school, served in the US Army for a few years, bounced around a variety of jobs, once ran for the US Senate, and was even imprisoned for marijuana trafficking. When Russia began annexing Crimea and encouraged separatist movements in the Donbass region, Bentley decided to take Russia's side and move to Donetsk to help defeat the so-called “Ukrainian Nazis.” He gained Russian citizenship and made English-language propaganda. He gained viral video fame just days after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 when he made this video for his YouTube channel but it was soon spread on other social media platforms. That video led to him being banned from YouTube and most other social media platforms.

I remember the outcry on social media from people calling him a traitor and demanding that he should be hauled back to the US to be tried for treason. My attitude at the time was that while I probably disagreed with about 80% (and maybe higher) of his political beliefs, I could at least respect him because he actually put his money where his mouth was and moved to Eastern Europe and he even obtained Russian citizenship. It was the same reason why I respected Teddy Boy Greg, the American-born barber with a bunch of face tattoos who now runs his own barbershop in Moscow. At least Bentley was actually on the front lines in a war zone while he spewed his propaganda instead of doing what Jackson Hinkle does and sit in his Miami home spewing propaganda both day and night. Given Bentley's combat experience, he probably could've beaten Jackson Hinkle to a pulp in a fighting match.

My opinion of Russell “Texas” Bentley grew lower the following year when two Westerners who had been fighting for Ukraine when they were captured and imprisoned by Russia, Cossack Gundi and Shaun Pinner, alleged that their captors had forced them to participate in propaganda videos that Bentley was making. Which meant that Bentley was a war criminal.

Cossack Gundi tweeted this after Bentley's death: “In the midst of my captivity, I distinctly remember watching a video that Russell Bentley had recorded. It was filled with the usual drivel, but what stood out was his smugness at the end. As he boasted about my imprisonment, he casually mentioned his plans to enjoy a barbecue by the river, reveling in the freedom that eluded me. How the tables have turned!”

While I think that no one deserves to be raped, including war criminals like Bentley, I don't feel sorry for him at all because everything he went through was the result of his life choices. He chose to believe the Russian propaganda that its actions against Ukraine are warranted because the Ukrainian government is full of Nazis. He chose to move from Texas to Donetsk in 2014 despite the fact that Donetsk has become a war zone that year. He chose to fight on behalf of Russia and the Donetsk separatists. He chose to create English-language propaganda on behalf of Russia and the Donetsk separatists. He even chose to marry a Donetsk woman and become a citizen of Russia. He chose all of it and he has now paid the ultimate price in a major FAFO way at the age of 64. He doesn't deserve any sympathy.

I'll close this post with a meme that I quickly created then distributed on social media when Bentley's death was confirmed.

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