The Kyiv Independent launches YouTube series
Skip to content
Edit post

American pro-Kremlin fighter tortured to death by Russian soldiers, Russian investigators say

by Martin Fornusek September 20, 2024 1:48 PM 3 min read
American pro-Kremlin fighter and propagandist Russell Bentley in a photo posted on X on April 4, 2024. (Russell Bentley/X) 
This audio is created with AI assistance

Russell Bentley, a pro-Kremlin American man who fought against Ukraine in 2014 and was killed under previously unknown circumstances in April, was tortured to death by Russian soldiers, Russia's Investigative Committee said on Sept. 20.

Concluding a preliminary investigation into the case, the committee accused Russian military service members Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin, and Andrei Iordanov of taking part in the crime in various roles.

Bentley, who died at the age of 63-64, was a U.S. military veteran and self-identified supporter of Russian occupation forces in Ukraine.

Local occupation authorities claimed Bentley went missing on April 8 after a district in occupied Donetsk Oblast was shelled by Ukrainian troops. His wife reportedly told the Mash Telegram channel that he went to see if other residents needed help after the strikes and never returned.

Russia's investigative committee concluded that Vansyatsky, Agaltsev, and Iordanov tortured and killed Bentley in occupied Donetsk, Ukraine, on April 8. Vansyatsky and Agaltsev then allegedly detonated a car with his body the same day.

‘Russia must feel it’s going to lose’ – Zelensky’s ‘victory plan,’ explained
More than 2.5 years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, as Moscow continued to make rapid advances in the east and launch relentless missile attacks across Ukraine, Kyiv seemed to be facing a stark choice: make territorial concessions for an unjust peace or prepare for a prolonged war, sacrificing mo…

On April 9, Vansyatsky instructed Bazhin to cover up the crime by removing Bentley's remains from the scene, the investigators said. The statement did not name a possible motive for the alleged crime.

The committee submitted its conclusions to the court. The soldiers have been charged with abuse of power resulting in death, desecrating a body, and concealment of a crime.

Russia was actively recruiting and transporting foreign fighters to join Moscow-backed proxy forces in Donbas at the start of the war in 2014, heavily employing propaganda for that purpose.

Bentley, who was a self-described communist and spent five years in a U.S. prison for smuggling, said he had joined Russian proxy forces to fight "against fascism," reiterating Russian propaganda talking points about the "fascist-ruled" government in Kyiv.

The Texas native also launched his own YouTube channel and worked as a "war correspondent" for the Russian propaganda channel Sputnik.

Ukrainian drones are burning Russia’s oil refineries, but not its economy
Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russian oil refineries are trying to achieve what Western sanctions couldn’t: grinding down what fuels Russia’s war machine and the backbone of its economy in an echo of the Allies’ oil bombing campaign on German assets in World War II. Since the start

News Feed

MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.