Mystery of Texan who was found dead 11 days after being arrested by Russian soldiers in Ukraine

A Texas veteran who fled the United States to fight for Russia in occupied Ukraine was found murdered after being allegedly kidnapped by Putin's soldiers.

Russell Bentley, 64, was detained by Russian troops in Donetsk on April 8, in a region where he had been fighting for Putin's forces since 2014 after the annexation of Crimea. 

Eleven days after he vanished, Bentley turned up dead, amid allegations he was picked up by soldiers mistaking him for an American or NATO spy. 

The death has reportedly sparked a media storm in Russia after Bentley had previously been a propaganda favorite in the nation, including landing a reporting role with state-run Sputnik-TV. 

Russell Bentley, 64, a Texan who fled the US in 2014 to join Russian forces following Putin's annexation of Crimea, was found murdered 11 days after he was taken by Russian troops 

A former US Army soldier, Bentley became a popular propaganda figure in Russia following his decision to join its military. His death came amid reports that he was mistaken for an American spy 

Bentley fled to Russia in the wake of Putin's initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014, which killed more than 14,000 people in Donetsk and Luhansk in two years. 

As a former US Army soldier, he became a favorite of Russian propagandists, helping to bolster their narrative over the annexation as he was portrayed as a 'true American.' 

However, he became embroiled in Russian ultranationalist circles during the conflict, and his death has made him the latest in a number of leaders of the annexation of eastern Ukraine to show up dead, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

It is unclear exactly how Bentley - known as the Donbass Cowboy - was killed or what the reason was for his detainment earlier this month, however unverified reports said he was kidnapped by 'unknown people in military uniforms.' 

Eastern European news outlet NEXTA also claimed that Bentley was raped and killed by his fellow soldiers after they mistook him for a NATO spy. 

'Some Russian war correspondents suggested that after the rape, one of the officers said that it was no longer possible to let the American go, so they decided to kill him,' the outlet said in a tweet.  

His prominence in the Russian ultranationalist movement may have been the reason he was targeted, with members falling out of favor with Putin following the Wagner paramilitary group's failed coup in June 2023. 

Followers felt that Russia was not moving aggressively enough in its invasion of Ukraine, but its momentum was largely thwarted when its top generals - including warlord leader Yevgeny Prigozhin - were blown up in a plane bombing last year. 

Amid murky details over his death, Bentley's demise has also been blamed on general lawlessness in the occupied territories of Ukraine. 

Marat Gelman, a former senior executive of Russian state TV who later became an opponent of Putin’s regime, told the WSJ: 'The authorities can no longer control the xenophobia that they are igniting themselves, and any foreigner has become an enemy.' 

Bentley went missing on April 8, reports said. Local news outlets said he had disappeared after a district in the city of Donetsk was shelled by Ukrainian forces

Bentley was a former drug dealer and convicted felon who escaped prison in 1999, after previously being an unsuccessful candidate for the US Senate in Minnesota 

On Telegram, a popular encrypted social media platform, rumors of Bentley's death circulated quickly. 

Former Ukrainian lawmaker Oleg Tsaryov, who was a leading proponent of Putin's invasion in 2022, said on the platform that Bentley's killers should be 'found and punished', and if they weren't, 'prepare yourself for other affairs.' 

'And note that only the stories of media-famous personalities surface in the press—and how many stories of non-media-famous people are there that we don’t know about?' he wrote. 

Before he was kidnapped, the controversial Texan decided to head directly into conflict when he was waiting with his wife Lyudmila at an administrative office in Donetsk, as she said they 'saw a huge column of smoke after a strike.'

'Russell rushed to help the locals and soon stopped communicating,' his wife said. 

As reported by the Kyiv Post, Lyudmila - 'or someone claiming to be her' - shared a video following his disappearance, saying she found 'reliable information that is ironclad and does not raise any doubts' that he was 'detained illegally.' 

In a clip shared to Bentley's social media, she had also claimed that she went to look for her husband after he went to join the conflict, but was unable to locate him.

Lyudmila added that she found his car, which contained only his hat and smashed phone. 

The US Embassy in Ukraine said it was aware of reports of Bentley's death, saying: 'Whenever we learn of the death of a U.S. citizen in Ukraine, we seek to get in touch with the family and provide all possible consular assistance.' 

In 2022, Rolling Stone magazine ran an interview with Bentley titled The Bizarre Story of How a Hardcore Texas Leftist Became a Frontline Putin propagandist

A woman purporting to be Bentley's wife Lyudmila appeared in a video following his disappearance, saying she found 'reliable information that is ironclad and does not raise any doubts' that he was 'detained illegally' 

Born Russell Bonner Bentley III, his prominence in Russia sparked intrigue into why a Texas native had such an affinity for the hostile nation. 

In 2022, he was profiled in a Rolling Stone article titled 'The Bizarre Story of How a Hardcore Texas Leftist Became a Frontline Putin propagandist', where he detailed his early interest in far-left politics. 

'I grew up in a very exclusive area of Dallas called Highland Park... It's basically the Beverly Hills of Dallas,' he said. 

He was the 'black sheep' of his family and - as a teenager - was drawn to hard left causes, including communist ideas and anti-Vietnam War leaders. 

'I was reading Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara... I understood the Vietnamese were right to defend their land against foreign invaders, and that the United States was wrong. 

'I understood that Fidel and Che were right to overthrow the foreign masters that had turned Cuba into a casino and bordello.'

Bentley has said: 'I'm anti-racist. I'm anti-imperialist.

'I grew up supporting people's rights to defend themselves.' 

A former drug dealer, Bentley was convicted in 1996 for drug trafficking, but fled three years into his five-year sentence in a prison escape. 

He remained a fugitive until 2007, and was ordered to serve out the remainder of his sentence in a maximum-security prison. 

He was also notably a candidate for the US Senate in Minnesota in 1990, winning 1.65 percent of the vote on a platform largely revolving around cannabis legalization.  

Bentley, 64, a self-declared supporter of Russian-backed forces in Ukraine, joined pro-Russian fighters in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and used the military call-sign 'Texas' 

Following Putin's invasion in 2014, he broke up with his yoga-instructor girlfriend to join Russian forces, despite speaking almost no Russian. 

At the time, he justified the move as he felt he was 'on the little guys' side, defending good people against abjectly evil people.

He added to Rolling Stone: 'This is the battle, not just of Ukraine.

'This is the battle between good-and-evil for the future of the world.

'And right now, it's looking like the world might just have a chance because us and our friends are kicking some Nazi ass right now.'

Although his ultranationalist views saw him reportedly fall out of favor with the Kremlin, he shared a message of support when Putin launched his full-scale invasion in 2022. 

'Heading West with the Liberators of Ukraine. We may stop in Kiev, we may stop on the English Channel. We may liberate the USA,' he wrote on Russian social media platform, VKontakte.  

He was also said to have adopted the name Boris while in Russia.