April 24, 2024

"Texas" Killed in Donbas


"Texas" Killed in Donbas
Russell "Texas" Bentley Telegram

Sixty-four-year-old Russell Bentley, an American who operated under the alias "Texas," was recently killed in Donbas. He had previously worked for the Russian pro-Kremlin project Sputnik and fought in Donbas on the side of pro-Russian separatists.

Before his death, he was allegedly kidnapped by Russian military personnel; military bloggers assert that he was killed and possibly subjected to sexual assault.

A native of Texas, Russell Bentley joined the armed forces of the self-proclaimed DNR (Donetsk People's Republic) in 2014, serving with the pro-Russian Vostok battalion. Subsequently, he began working for the Sputnik news outlet, a project of the state-owned Rossiya Segonya (Russia Today). Bentley later married a woman from Donetsk and obtained Russian citizenship. After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he provided coverage of the conflict in Ukraine from a pro-Kremlin perspective on his Telegram channel.

On April 8, Russell Bentley went missing following shelling in Donetsk. His wife, Lyudmila, said that he had gone to aid victims and had not been in contact since. On April 12, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the separatists Donetsk People's Republic initiated a search for Bentley. Three days later, Lyudmila announced that he had been abducted by Russian military personnel.

"My husband was forcibly taken and is currently being held illegally by members of the military, specifically tank crews from the 5th brigade," she wrote in a post published on the Bentley Telegram channel.

Later, the Telegram channel Kremlyevksaya Tabakerka (Kremlin Snuff Box), citing a source close to Donetsk People's Republic leader Denis Pushilin, reported that Bentley was detained on suspicion of espionage for NATO countries, subjected to sexual assault by the military, and then killed.

Other pro-war Telegram channels also reported on Bentley's killing. Some liken what happened to Bentley to the murder of separatist battalion commander Aleksandr Magushev, known by the call sign "Berg," who was killed in territory occupied by Russian troops with a gunshot to the back of the head.

Notably, Telegram channels that reported not only the death but specifically the murder of an American were censored. Aleksandr Khodakovsky, the commander of the unit in which Russell Bentley once fought, was compelled to remove his post. Other Telegram channels also report receiving threats from individuals wishing to report them for "discrediting the army."

You Might Also Like

A Brick in AWOL
  • April 16, 2024

A Brick in AWOL

In March 2024, Russian military courts began handing down about 34 sentences a day for unauthorized abandonment of military service.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Jews in Service to the Tsar
October 09, 2011

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

The Little Humpbacked Horse
November 03, 2014

The Little Humpbacked Horse

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices
May 01, 2013

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955