Russell Bentley, 64, reported killed in Moscow-occupied Donetsk by Russian state media and confirmed by his battalion

A US citizen known to have fought with pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine between 2014 and 2017 has been killed in Moscow-occupied Donetsk, according to Russian media reports.

Russia-installed authorities in eastern Ukraine had earlier this month reported the American – 64-year-old Russell Bentley – as missing.

“Russell Bentley, known as ‘Texas’, a real American, truly from Texas, was killed in Donetsk,” Margarita Simonyan, head of the pro-Kremlin RT TV channel, said on social media.

  • Neuromancer
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    2 months ago

    I just mentioned him the other day. Appears Russian killed him thinking he was a spy.

      • Neuromancer
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        2 months ago

        He was just a dipshit. He was their Tokyo rose

        Early in the war the news showed a video of him. I don’t think he was fighting. He just narrated shit. What a stupid way to die.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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      2 months ago

      That’s because anyone in Russia who isn’t a “pure” Russian is treated with suspicion and/or derision. This guy included.

      • JustZ@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It’s a real police state. They make everyone a suspect and an informer.

        Do you report what you know, or wait for your neighbor to report you for not reporting what you knew?

        It’s Kafkaesque, and he came to a fitting end: “like a dog.”