Russell "Texas" Bentley: Dead or Alive? (Strange Bedfellows, Ep. 33)

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.

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Many thanks to the Maverick News Channel for hosting this program.
http://MaverickNews.ca