A translation of an article, appearing at Tsargrad.tv on the 14th of December 2024.

“I’m alive!”: The strange case of Russell Bentley — the perpetrators did not appear in court. The murdered militia member appeared to his friends in a dream

On December 5, the trial pertaining to “the case of Russell Bentley” — an American volunteer with the call sign Texas — commenced in the garrison court of Donetsk. In 2014, he burned bridges in the United States, came to fight for Donbass, and participated in the battles for Donetsk airport. And on April 8, 2024, he was killed in Donetsk. By our own people. Four servicemen from the 5th motorized Infantry brigade of the DPR, including one of its commanders Vitaly Vansyatsky, are being tried for this crime. A journalist from Tsargrad called Lyudmila Bentley, Russell’s wife, to find out the details of the trial, and found out an amazing fact. Texas appeared almost simultaneously in a dream to three of his loved ones and uttered the same phrase: “I’m alive!”

The call was answered by the probable killer

So, there are four defendants in the dock: Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Andrey Iordanov and Vladimir Bazhin. Surprisingly, they are all Donetsk residents, from Makeyevka…

This means that they couldn’t possibly not know Russell Bentley, who was a “landmark” of the DPR — not only a well-known militia member, but also a journalist, musician, and a frequent guest on local TV. And therefore, to detain, torture, kill Russell, and then methodically destroy his remains, you have to be either very unscrupulous or very stoned.

One has to wonder what the law enforcement system should be like, in order to impute part 5 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code for such a crime (abuse of official authority resulting in death by negligence)?

It is also interesting that when Lyudmila Bentley did not yet know where her husband had disappeared, she called Vansyatsky, unaware that the person on the other end of the line was the likely the killer of Russell. Vansyatsky said at the time that he knew nothing about any Bentley.

Recall that on April 8, Russell and Lyudmila arrived at the administration of the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, where the American was called to extend his monthly minimum social security (7,300 rubles).

At that moment, the arrival of the HIMARS happened nearby, and Texas rushed there by car to help possible victims (in Donetsk, many people do this in similar situations), but before reaching the place of arrival, he was stopped and then taken somewhere by the military. (Tsargrad described the whole situation in detail).

“Their motive is still unclear. I don’t see any logic in their actions. Russell always had with him a standard set of documents certifying his identity: a Russian passport with a residence permit in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, a military ID card, a weapon permit, several journalistic certificates (at that time Bentley was a military officer of the Sputnik agency — the one headed by Margarita Simonyan and Dmitry Kiselyov). Establishing his identity was not a problem. They say that Russell tried to call someone. Of course, I tried to call. To me. We agreed that in some difficult situations, he calls, and I translate on the phone – I facilitate his dialogue with people with whom there is a problem. This was the case, for example, with a car repair technician. But this time they didn’t let him call. The phone was smashed so that it lay on the ground and smoked. Where is the logic? If they suspected that he was some kind of spy, it would be logical to protect the phone like the apple of your eye to check contacts and correspondence”
— says Lyudmila Bentley.

According to her, the accused have already changed their testimony several times — how can they even be trusted after that? She also has doubts about the authenticity of Russell’s remains found by the investigation. Because all the experts she consulted independently say the same thing: it can’t be that these were all the remains that were found after Russell’s body was blown up and then burned.

The court is a complete stressfull affair

Lyudmila Bentley changed her lawyer before the trial. In September, she was invited to a meeting by Russell’s last employer, Dmitry Kiselyov, CEO of “Rossiya Segodnya”.

“Dmitry Konstantinovich is very worried about the progress of the investigation. He asked if I had a lawyer. I explained the situation. He said: “Let’s find you good lawyers and we’ll pay for their work.” I am very grateful to him for his support.”
— says Lyudmila.

In order to collect the necessary amount for the services of Roman Ivlev’s previous lawyer, Lyudmila even had to ask for donations. She paid him to work at the preliminary investigation. And at the end of his contract, the defender gave the client a small stress.

On November 25, the court had to decide whether to extend the detention of the three accused (the fourth, Vladimir Bazhin, was bailed by the command and is at large — he, according to the investigation, did not participate in the murder, but was engaged in the “cover—up” — “he raked Russell’s remains with his own hands and tried to destroy them”).

“Ivlev was informed about the upcoming meeting, but he did not tell me. Only on the day of the meeting itself did he let me know about it. I raced like crazy from the Petrovsky district and at the last minute I made it to the court. The accused had a support group — relatives, friends, lawyers, and I was completely alone, without Ivlev, without new defenders — they hadn’t started work yet — without friends.”
— says Lyudmila Bentley.

The first hearing was scheduled for December 5. This time Lyudmila was not alone — the new lawyers had arrived. The hearing was supposed to start at 14:00. But it didn’t start. They were waiting for the defendants to be delivered. They were not brought either at 14:30 or at 15 o’clock. And then they announced that the convoy could not ensure their appearance.

“The reason for this was not explained to us. Everything looked strange. Lawyers from Moscow were able to come, but the defendants could not be brought from Donetsk to Donetsk.”
— says Lyudmila.

At the request of the prosecutor’s office, the hearings were declared closed — allegedly there is secret information in the case materials. Lyudmila’s lawyers consider this decision unfounded.

It was in such an atmosphere of uncertainty and nervousness that the trial began for her.

But she received other support — moral support. On December 3, the second documentary film festival “The Front Line” began in Rostov-on-Don, where she was invited. She has good memories associated with this festival. Last year, they attended it together with Russell, who presented his film “Monastery” about the battles for Donetsk airport there and won a separate prize in the nomination “For preserving the memory of the heroes of Donbass”. He probably would have come to the current festival if he hadn’t been killed.

But it so surprisingly coincided that the festival day on December 4 was held under the sign of Russell Bentley — as if on purpose to strengthen the spirit of his wife Lyudmila on the eve of the trial.

Between the dead and the living

On this day, two films about Russell were shown at once — “Donbass Cowboy” and “Our Texas”. The first was shot by an American, former Catholic priest Regis Tremblay, who moved from the United States to Russia. The second one was filmed by the organizers of the festival, and therefore it was not participating in the competition. A special Russell Bentley Award was also established. Lyudmila was supposed to give it to the creator of the film that she would like the most. She gave her voice to director Alyona Polunina, the author of the film “Among the Dead, among the Living.”

That film is about the work of the LPR interdepartmental group, which searches for dead people — military and civilian — and gives their remains to relatives — those who did not know about the fate of their loved ones and were, as it were, between two worlds — the dead and the living.

“The film was very in tune with my condition, which I was in for the first time after Russell’s death. Yes, and I am still in this state.”
— Lyudmila admits.

When she went out to present Polunina with the Russell Award, the whole hall stood up.

“I didn’t expect this. My breath caught in my throat and my voice was shaking. I could barely keep from crying.”
— says Lyudmila.

Between the dead and the living, it’s definitely about Russell Bentley. The creators of the film “Our Texas”, Yuri Maltsev and Anton Chekrygin admitted that during the filming they felt the invisible presence of Russell — it was as if he was a member of their team. But Lyudmila Bentley shared a much more exciting fact.

“I feel his presence all the time, I talk to him, I cry, I laugh, and the moments of the past pop up in my head like flashbacks”
— she says.

But in August of this year, while preparing a series of texts about Russell for Tsargrad, Lyudmila said with sadness that she did not dream about her husband.

And suddenly it happened. At the same time, in August, two of Russell Bentley’s combat friends — “Bike” and “Snake” — independently informed Lyudmila that they had dreamt about him. And he said the same words to both of them: “I’m alive.”

And in September, I came to Moscow, stayed with a friend whom I visited with Russell the last time. I slept on the same couch. And I told him before going to bed: “Russell, how much longer? Others dream about you, but I don’t. Look: I’m on the same couch that you and I slept on. Let’s have a dream already!”. And I dreamed about him. He was cheerful, as if I had made him laugh a lot with my appeal. And he said the same words: “I’m alive.” I clarified: “Are you really alive or in the sense that everyone is alive with God?”. And he repeated: “I’m alive.”