US EditionRussian Soldiers Sentenced Over Death Of American Fighting For Kremlin In Ukraine
Four Russian soldiers received prison sentences after being found guilty of torturing and killing Russell Bentley, who was mistaken for a US saboteur, court records show.
- On December 8, 2025, a judge in occupied Donetsk sentenced four Russian soldiers to prison for the torture and killing of Russell Bentley, a US citizen.
- Investigators in Donetsk say the Russian soldiers mistook Bentley for a U.S. saboteur, detained him, and authorities reported they beat and tortured him to get a confession before he died.
- Investigators say they placed the body in a car, detonated it and returned the next day to burn the remains; Major Vitaly Vansyatsky and Lieutenant Andrei Iordanov received 12 years, Sergeant Vladislav Agaltsev 11 years, and Vladimir Bazhin 1.5 years from Donetsk Garrison Military Court.
- All four defendants pleaded guilty and expressed remorse, Russia's Investigative Committee said, while CBS/AFP reported Moscow rarely punishes soldiers, making this verdict notable.
- Bentley had built a public profile by producing content for Russian state-backed media and fought with pro-Russian separatists since 2014, serving in the Vostok battalion and obtaining Russian citizenship in 2021.
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27 Articles
Russell Bentley was the only North American resident in Donetsk. He defended Putin and his faith in Kremlin was inexhaustible. He was terrified and tortured until death by Russian soldiers, who were now imprisoned.
Suspicions of espionage led to the torture and murder of the “Donbas cowboy” in 2024. Four Russian soldiers now sentenced to prison.
Four Russian Soldiers Jailed for Murder of Pro-Kremlin US Fighter Russell ‘Texas’ Bentley
The episode has proven awkward for Moscow, which has promoted “shared values visas” to entice sympathetic Americans and has sought to recruit foreign nationals to bolster its forces in Ukraine.
A military court in Donetsk announced today that it had sentenced three Russian soldiers to up to 12 years in prison for the torture and murder of American citizen Russell Bentley (63), who volunteered to fight for Russia against Ukraine.
Four Russian soldiers were sentenced to prison by a Donetsk court, under the control of Moscow, for the murder of American Russell Bentley, a pro-Kremlin volunteer known as ‘Texas’. The man was beaten until death after...
The victim was mistakenly taken for a Ukrainian resistanceman. Fighting alongside the pro-Russian forces in Ukraine, he was beaten to death.
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