Four Russian soldiers charged over murder of American in Donbass

A criminal case on the murder in Donbass of American Russell ‘Texas’ Bentley has been brought before a court of justice, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced on Monday.

Russian authorities have accused four members of the Donetsk People’s Republic militia of kidnapping and killing 63-year-old Bentley earlier this year.

Texas-born Bentley joined the DPR militia in 2014, when Kiev-backed forces attempted to quell an uprising against the armed coup that had overthrown the Ukrainian government in the capital. He later became a Russian citizen and worked as a stringer for Sputnik news agency. He disappeared on April 8 in Donetsk, during a Ukrainian artillery attack.

According to a statement on the committee’s website, servicemen Vitaly Vasnyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin and Andrey Iordanov – all members of the ‘Oplot’ brigade of the Russian armed forces, formerly the DPR militia – have been charged with criminal offenses, including violence and torture resulting in the death of a person, and with covering up a serious crime.

“Depending on the role of each, they are accused of committing by a group of persons of acts clearly beyond their authority, using physical violence and torture, which resulted in the death of journalist Russell Bentley through negligence, as well as concealing a particularly serious crime by moving his remains to another location,” the committee stated.

The defendants have been briefed with the materials of the criminal case. “On October 28, 2024, the indictment was approved,” the committee said, adding that the case was sent to the Donetsk Garrison Military Court for consideration of its merits.

According to the investigation, Vasnyatsky, Agaltsev and Iordanov assaulted Bentley on April 8. The torture they subjected him to inadvertently killed him, whereupon Vasnyatsky and Agaltsev used a block of TNT to blow up a VAZ 2115 car with Bentley’s body inside. The following day, Vasnyatsky ordered Bazhin to cover up the crime by moving Bentley’s remains elsewhere.

Bentley’s widow Lyudmila first raised the alarm about her husband’s disappearance, appealing for help from Russian President Vladimir Putin. She also sought assistance from RT and Sputnik.

On April 19, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan confirmed Bentley’s death. The Investigative Committee launched its investigation shortly thereafter.