Russell “Texas” Bentley

On Episode 33 of "Strange Bedfellows" I reported on the mysterious disappearance of my friend Russell "Texas" Bentley, who vanished from #Donetsk on April 8th. After 20 days of speculation as to whether Russell was dead or alive, it has now been confirmed by his wife Lyudmila that he was indeed murdered. The 64 year-old Bentley, an American citizen, left his #Austin, #Texas home in 2014 to fight for #Russia in the #Donbass region of #Ukraine. He joined the armed forces of the Donetsk People's Republic and served numerous combat missions. After aging out of military service, Russell worked as a reporter for #Sputnik television news. On the day he disappeared, Russell was on his way to investigate the scene of a Ukrainian shelling in his capacity as a journalist. He never returned. His white Niva car was later found burned and blown up at the brick factory in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, almost at the front line. Inside were Russell's remains. His body was incinerated. Collected fragments were taken for DNA analysis to make a positive identification. After days of being stonewalled by local authorities, Russell's widow Lyudmila released a video statement in which she made a desperate appeal directly to Russian president Vladimir #Putin for help. After Lyudmila's video appeal to the president, "the matter was taken up at the top" by Moscow military authorities, who quickly arrested members from the 5th Tank Brigade of the Russian Federation. The still-unnamed alleged killers were said in a statement posted April 28th by Lyudmila on Russell's official Telegram channel to be "werewolf extortionists." ("Werewolves" are soldiers with loyalties to Ukraine inside the Russian armed forces.) The soldiers were apparently intending to rob Russell Bentley, thinking him a wealthy American, before killing him and attempting to dispose of his body. A criminal investigation has been opened into Bentley's violent and mysterious death. What we now know provides more questions than answers. On this edition of Maverick News we have a new interview with Russell's widow Lyudmila and her attorney with the latest details on the case. Join us tonight at 9 Eastern. please help support the show with a donation at: http://StrangeBedfellowsPodcast.com Many thanks to the Maverick News Channel for hosting this program. http://MaverickNews.ca

My friend and fellow Austinite Russell "Texas" Bentley has been missing since April 8. Despite rumors and speculation about his mysterious disappearance, Russell's fate is still a mystery. On the day he went missing, Russell and his wife Lyudmila had been in line at a local government building in #Donetsk to deal with some administrative documents, when he went to go help civilians injured in a nearby attack by Ukrainian forces. But when his wife went looking for him she only found his car, with his baseball cap, glasses, and his phone, which was shattered. On April 16th his wife wrote on Russell's Telegram account that she had received "reliable and confirmed ironclad information" that her husband was kidnapped "and continues to be illegally detained by the tankers of the 5th Brigade of the Russian Federation Armed Forces." She pleaded with Russell's friends and supporters to appeal urgently to the governments of the Donetsk People's Republic and #Russia, the FSB, the Prosecutor General's Office, and the Ministries of Defense and Internal Affairs, to help her locate her husband, adding "perhaps, there is not much time." His wife posted again on Thursday, April 18th: "Today is the 10th day since Russell disappeared. To this day, I do not know his whereabouts,” she said. On Friday, reports began to emerge that seemingly confirmed our worst fears. Sputnik, who employed Russell as a war correspondent, released a statement written by Margarita Simonyan, the head of Russia Today TV, stating that Russell (call sign "Texas") was dead. Russell's former combat unit, the Vostok battalion, and a local official in #Donetsk also confirmed his death yesterday, adding that their information came from Russell's wife. The U.S. State Department has not confirmed this information, however. In a statement Friday, a spokesperson said: “We are aware of reports of a U.S. citizen missing in the Donetsk region in #Ukraine. Our ability to verify reports of incidents regarding U.S. citizens in Ukraine is extremely limited." The mystery deepened when Russell's wife and some of his friends spoke out today, saying that they could not -- and would not -- confirm that he was in fact deceased. Our Maverick News correspondent in #Crimea, Kevin Michelizzi, is a personal friend of the Bentleys and told us this morning he was furious about the premature reports of Russell's demise, adding that most of what we've been told is #FakeNews. This afternoon Russell's wife Lyudmila posted on Russell's official Telegram channel that "I have not seen him alive, nor his body, nor his remains. That's a fact. And yes, there is some insider information that is very not good." She thanked "the Wagner group guys for finding out what happened, how that happened, who they were, how many of them there were and their motive..." "I still hope for real operational professionalism and decency from all involved agencies," she said. Since leaving his #Austin, #Texas home ten years ago to volunteer for the Russian armed forces against what he called "the #Nazis in Ukraine," Russell was willing to lay down his life for a cause he believed in: the struggle against #fascism. Even though Russell had aged out of the armed forces a few years ago, he was still not afraid to put himself in dangerous situations; often running directly towards active combat zones to cover battles as a journalist, or to provide first aid to civilians injured by the constant shelling in Donetsk -- as he did in the moments before his mysterious disappearance on April 8. In an interview exactly one month before he vanished, Russell told journalist Patrick Henningsen on TNT Radio that Donetsk was swiftly becoming a hotzone of combat activity once again as NATO soldiers were infiltrating the area -- which may provide some clues as to his violent kidnapping and perhaps, his murder. At this point, it is probably safe to say we won't be seeing our friend "the #Donbass Cowboy" again. Who killed Russell Bentley? Was it the Ukrainians, who had his name on their infamous kill list? Was it the #DPR, who reportedly suspected him of being a #NATO spy? Was it Pro-Ukrainian Russian "Werewolves" who had a personal score to settle? Or perhaps a shadowy NATO special forces unit who black-bagged him? We may never know. All we do know for sure is that Russell "Texas" Bentley's life -- and his ultimate sacrifice -- was not in vain. Those of us who knew and loved him will miss his war stories, his guitar picking, his wry wit, and his encyclopedic knowledge of history. Although Russell and I were on opposite sides of the political spectrum (I'm a #libertarian; he was a #communist), we shared much in common: a deep love for our native Texas, our musical tastes, our #cannabis activism, and our mutual hatred of fascism. Tonight, Episode 33 of "Strange Bedfellows" is a tribute to my friend Russell. As today is 4/20, the annual #marijuana holiday, I couldn't think of a more appropriate time to bring you some selected highlights from my last interview with Russell on July 14, 2023. Here, he tells his fascinating life story, in his own words. If you never had the pleasure of getting to know Russell "Texas" Bentley, maybe tonight's show will make you wish you had. And if you did know "Tejas," this incredible conversation will serve as a remembrance of the beautiful human being we have apparently lost to the horrors of war. If you enjoyed this interview, please help support the show with a donation at: http://StrangeBedfellowsPodcast.com Many thanks to the Maverick News Channel for hosting this program. http://MaverickNews.ca

On Episode 6 of Strange Bedfellows, I spoke to Russell Bentley, a Texas-born former American soldier now living in (and fighting for) Russia. We talked about the history of Ukrainian nationalism, predating the alliance with Nazi Germany. Long before Nazi Germany even existed; before Nazism had a name, or a political party, it had a distinct ideology -- a kind of genocidal racism and rabid anti-#communism that fueled the pogroms against Jews and #communists in #Ukraine after World War One and the #Bolshevik revolution. The Ukrainian nationalists were the O.G. #Nazis. The original gangsters. As their ideological and biological descendants continue this hundred-year war against their former Soviet neighbors, Bentley says that many of his fellow #Donbass soldiers defending themselves from the #NazisInUkraine don't trust the Russian government anymore, either. Being a #communist himself, Bentley views modern day capitalist Russia as a country ruled by oligarchs and war profiteers who are making billions off the prolonged military operation. Bentley told me that "the greatest danger to #Russia's hopes for victory in this war against 21st Century #fascism is "the parasites and collaborators in Moscow. They are the enemies of the future of humanity." As he sees it, "this is a war between the billionaire classes and the rest of us." (This is an excerpt of our 2-hour interview. Watch the full episode of Strange Bedfellows here.) Support my independent journalism at: http://StrangeBedfellowsPodcast.com Follow me on Twitter: http://Twitter.com/RealLoriSpencer Subscribe on Rumble for UNCENSORED videos Youtube won't let me show you! http://Rumble.com/LoriSpencer

Episode 6 of the "Strange Bedfellows" podcast takes us to #Donetsk, #Russia where we meet Russell "Texas" Bentley -- affectionately known as "the #Donbas Cowboy." Russell and I come from entirely different political backgrounds. I'm a longtime #libertarian; he's a #communist. Yet, we have much in common: we are both Texans, musicians, have many mutual friends in common, and we are both Americans. Despite our political differences, we agree more than we disagree. Russell Bentley was born in #Texas in 1960, served in the US Army in the 1980’s, and always had a keen interest in politics and history. After the coup in Kiev in 2014, and the subsequent war crimes and atrocities committed against Russian speaking Ukrainian citizens by the US-backed Ukrainian Army and neo-nazi death squads, Russell moved to Donetsk in late 2014 and joined the defense forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic. After serving a year in VOSTOK Battalion and KHAN Spetsnaz Battalion, Russell made the transition to war correspondent and human aid volunteer. Nine years later, he continues his work from the city of Donetsk on the frontlines of the Donbass War. Russell is married and has a small house with a big garden in the Petrovsky District. Russell is a proud citizen of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Russian Federation. If you enjoyed this interview, please help support the show with a donation at: http://StrangeBedfellowsPodcast.com Many thanks to the Maverick News Channel for hosting this program. http://MaverickNews.ca

Even after the revolt that Russian President Vladimir #Putin called a "mutiny," the #WagnerGroup is still indispensable to #Russia's special military operation in #Ukraine, says a former DPR soldier who knows many of the #Wagner fighters personally. On the latest episode of the Strange Bedfellows podcast Russell "Texas" Bentley -- an American who joined the #Donetsk People's Republic armed forces in 2014 to fight against Ukraine -- told me that the so-called "coup" of June 24 is not at all what it seems, and certainly not how it is being reported by the Western press. Bentley has been in the trenches with #WagnerPMC on many occasions over the years, and has great insight into what is really happening behind the veil of secrecy surrounding the mutiny. He also says that there is still an important role for Wagner to play in the special military operation, and that they are by no means finished. What's next for #Prigozhin and Wagner Group? Watch this excerpt from Strange Bedfellows! Full interview: Strange Bedfellows, Episode 6, Russell Bentley. Air date: July 8, 2023. https://rumble.com/v2yti0w-strange-bedfellows-ep.-6-russell-texas-bentley-aka-the-donbass-cowboy.html Support my independent journalism at: http://StrangeBedfellowsPodcast.com Follow me on Twitter: http://Twitter.com/RealLoriSpencer Subscribe on Rumble for UNCENSORED videos Youtube won't let me show you! http://Rumble.com/LoriSpencer