Mystery Death of Texan Who Fought for Moscow Sparks Outrage in Russia

Wall Street Journal MSN ^ | 4/25/2024 | Yaroslav Trofimov

[marcusmaximus]

Russell Bentley, a self-described “Donbass Cowboy,” joined Russian forces soon after they created a proxy state in eastern Ukraine in 2014. He quickly became one of Russian propaganda’s favorite Americans, receiving a Russian passport and a gig with state-run Sputnik TV.

On April 8, the 64-year-old Austin native better known under his call sign “Texas” was detained by Russian soldiers in the city of Donetsk, occupied by Russia for the past decade, according to his wife. Eleven days later, he turned up dead.

He is the latest in a string of figures involved in Russia’s 2014 takeover of parts of eastern Ukraine—dubbed the “Russian Spring”—who are now in their graves or behind bars.

The circumstances behind Bentley’s disappearance are murky. But the incident has already caused outrage in Russian nationalist circles, with popular bloggers and commentators calling for an investigation and decrying what they called an official coverup.

[Lumper20]

Anyone who would leave Texas and fight for Russia is a traitor to America and indeed a dumbazz. He deserved his death.

[MeganC]

Your hamhanded denial will not undo the murder of this man at the hands of the people he was trying to help. Your people, that is.

[AnonymousConservative]

There is a pretty decent chance there is more to the story than you know. Ex-con is where domestic intel recruits informants heavily. One FBI agent said there are more spies per capita n prisons than there are anywhere else in the world, from DC to Moscow. It is a small step from domestic intel to CIA.

He was slipping away from the wife and his unit, heading to Donbass for unknown reasons. I would not be surprised he was CIA, and got caught trying to make contact.

Russians probably prefer the myth of him to releasing the reality, and that is the confusion.