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

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.

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.