Russell Bentley Update: Body Still Not Found, Wife Reports Full Cover-Up By the Authorities

We may never know what really happened to Bentley.

Previously:

I know a lot of you were following the abduction and subsequent murder of Russell Bentley by his own “side” in Donbass.

I had previous reported that the burnt remains of his body had been found in some abandoned factory. As it turns out, that was just some other unlucky victim because we still don’t have any proof or evidence of Russell’s body having been found.

This is an update coming from his widowed wife.

Here:

« I work as the wife of Texas »: Lyudmila Bentley told the love story of an American cowboy and a Donetsk English teacher.

On April 8, 2024, in broad daylight, military correspondent Russell Bentley was abducted and brutally killed in the capital of the DPR. More than 100 days have passed since what happened. The body of the American was never found. Journalist « Donetsk notebook » Diana Povetkina met Lyudmila Bentley – the wife of a murdered volunteer to find out the details of what happened and to find out who is actually guilty of the tragic disappearance of a Russian American.

(…)

« I always tried to find out the details, but the information was given to me very dosedly – on droplets. I sounded the alarm when it became clear that there were inconsistencies between the real facts and what they told me. When I was not treated humanly, I decided to turn to the president », - shares Lyudmila.

Here is where it gets interesting.

As it turns out, there was a secret investigation carried out and his wife was kept in the dark. But, quietly, arrests were made. The only problem is that the men arrested probably didn’t kill Bentley.

For about 2.5 months, the Russell Bentley case was covered with a veil of secrecy. In the interests of the investigation, many facts were not revealed either by Lyudmila or by journalists. So, June 25 on the YouTube channel of the scandalous-in-Russia lawyer Elman Pashayev, a video message of two women appeared.

In the video, they introduced themselves as a wife and sister of, according to them, an illegally arrested officer. They were family of those who were detained on the suspicion of unlawful detention, abduction and murder of the American Russell Bentley.

And so, the President of the Russian Federation was openly addressed by video by: Olga Jordanova – wife of the senior lieutenant, commander of the tank company of the 5th brigade (named after Zakharchenko) Andrei Jordanov, and Irina Maltseva – sister of the senior lieutenant of the tank company of the 5th brigade (also Zakharchenko) Vladimir Bazhin.

Here is their testimony of what happened and how it involved their husbands:

« There was an arrival < ... > during the arrival of < ... > somehow we found ourselves < ... > at the arrival site when an American < ... > he spoke English and waved his arms. Our guys detained him < ... >

Now, for unknown reasons, they were then imprisoned, they were planted on May 28. Our lawyers and the investigator who was sent from Moscow < ... > they are not accepted [by the courts]. They constantly remove them from the case < ... > they force the accussed to constantly sign off on the refusal of these lawyers, whom we hire <…>

In a situation that is not justified for us, they put the accused in solitary confinement and do not allow us to see each other, to convey something, or to explain why they are sitting there »,

- says the wife of the detainee Olga Jordanov.

Very suspicious, indeed.

But, as it turns out, these men probably did initially detain Bentley. It seems that something happened after his initial detention though. And this something is no doubt the reason for the cover-up.

With tears in her eyes, the woman talked about the fact that she and her husband had two children, and asked to return the only breadwinner to the family. She also wondered: « Why should we lose our husbands because of the country that is at war with us? ». Apparently, referring to the fact that her husband was arrested due to the disappearance of an American by birth, and Russian by citizenship and spirit Russell Bentley. [unprofessional editorializing]

There are some strange discrepancies that are raised by the investigation into the events that occurred. Since the article is long and difficult to translate, I will just bullet-point list them here:

• There are two detained men, but eye-witnesses and the suspects themselves confirm that five men hauled Bentley off

• The lawyer of the two detained men claims that Russell was waving a weapon at the soldiers, but this seems unlikely; his weapon was found in the car

• The lawyer of the two detained men claims that Russell was sending targeting information to the Ukrainians using his devices, but the devices have since been recovered despite being smashed by the soldiers

The direct quote:

« There was a strike by HIMARS and our fighters died in it. Jordanov Andrey Evgenievich, Bazhin Vladimir Nikolaevich, Agaltsev Vladislav Vladislavovich tankers of the 5th OMSBr approached the site of the death of our soldiers and saw how a certain foreigner moving from the place of arrival who probably transfered the location of our troops, he took out weapons to demand the soldiers leave and began to threaten the tankers, he was disarmed, but unfortunately the foreigner had a very strong physique and he managed to hide », - he writes on his social networks.

Very strange. Russell was like 60 years old and slow. Five men were out-muscled by him? OK.

• On the recovered devices, according to Ludmila, there is no proof of the allegations that Russell was working as a Ukrainian spy in the recordings or the correspondences on it

• Russell probably wasn’t a Ukrainian spy

• Ludmila was not allowed to retrieve Bentley’s car and when she received authorization to go get it, the car was already missing and crucial evidence gone with it

Her words:

« I don’t know the details, I still don’t know its location for sure, but I know that the car was destroyed to hide the traces of the crime», - says Lyudmila.

Also, it would have been trivial to verify who Russell was:

The first thing that the military is required to do is decide to check a person who is suspicious in their opinion – is to demand his documents. Russell had all the possible documents with him: ID of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the DPR, permission for weapons in the name of Bentley R. B .; two accreditation certificates № 5534 and № 3590 for work on the territory of the DPR; official certificate of the Ministry of Defense of the DPR 1 AK of the people's militia v / h 08818 addressed to Private Bentley R. B .; temporary certificate of the Ministry of Defense of the DPR 1 AK of the national militia in the name of (the call sign of the TEHAS); bank cards; a military ticket; passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation with a residence permit in the Petrovsky district (!).

Neither I nor Ludmila believes that this was an accidental killing.

« I do not believe that they did not know who they were killing. I do not believe in it », - says the widow of Russell Bentley.

What is worse, Ludmila was gaslit into abandoning the investigation with fake news that Russell’s body had been burnt and destroyed. She didn’t fall for it and kept pushing and now, as it turns out, the news about his body being found were fake.

According to Lyudmila, they initially tried to convince her that it was useless to look for Russell Bentley's body and, probably, the military correspondent was simply burned. However, the heartbroken wife « Texas » refused to believe it and until the last insisted. The investigators found something that is proof that the remains of the military correspondent exist and the body was not burned.

Ludmila’s case is starting to gain ground. Big names like Kisylev of Channel 1 and others are speaking out for a real investigation to be conducted and the cover-up lifted. Here is what one official had to say:

« Hiding that Russell was killed is pointless. And it's like we are covering for the killers. In addition, Alexander Kofman is right - these are huge reputation losses incurred. This topic is already being promoted by our enemies. In the info-wash, there is a kind of demonic joyfulness about the fact that the Russians killed the American militiaman and hide the evidence.

But we live in a society where it is almost impossible to hide something.

The fact that Russell was detained by people in uniform, the fact that somewhere he disappeared for several days and only then was he found dead is all no secret to anyone. This was written about in both TG and quite official media. Those who need to can know all the circumstances. I do not want to write about them. However, I will say this: it would be better if this [wasn’t what happened] », - he wrote on his social networks.

So, I guess I’m not a demonic monster for sharing the story of Russell’s murder and undermining The Shoigu’s reputation and the honor of the DNR authorities. It turns out that it is totally natural to demand answers and justice. It is, in fact, the patriotic position to take. Those who took this patriotic position too soon though or immediately, well, they got the timing wrong and so they became traitors. True patriots wait until it is safe to speak hard truths before doing so. True heroes wait until others take the first steps before bravely finding the courage to repeat them themselves. This you must understand.

The wife of the murdered Russell « Texas » sincerely thanks everyone who is not afraid to speak.

I could be wrong, but I think I am the only English-language blogger who translated the news that she was posting on Telegram.

Am I still a villain in your eyes, dear casual Z-readers?

« I believe that this martyrdom should be for the good and prevent the subsequent shedding of innocent blood. You need to not just talk about it, you need to talk very loudly about it. Maybe not all of this is now aware, but I realize that Russell’s death should be the cornerstone in raising this issue and this problem to such a large level, to save many lives in the future », - says the widow of the murdered American volunteer.

Final Thoughts

First of all, there is clearly a cover-up going on, as confirmed by the report, by prominent Russian media figures who are now speaking out against the cover-up, by Ludmila, by her husband’s friends in Donbass, and by the strange statements released by the lawyer of two of the 5 suspects.

One possible lead is that this strange lawyer fellow is actually a well-known lawyer for prominent gangster-politicians and ethno-mafias. And no, Mr. Elman Pashayev is not a Russian.

He has been disbarred before over some bribes he paid out to authorities during gangland turf disputes between various Caucasus ethno-mafias. Here:

Head of international law firm Elman Group, Moscow-based lawyer Elman Pashayev, a native of Azerbaijan, was arrested for two months and was deprived of his lawyer status in Russia. Mytishchi City Court of the Moscow region accused him of committing extortions. 

In his interview with Eurasia Diary, Russian historian and political expert Oleg Kuznetsov said that the arrest of the lawyer is revenge for defending him.

Meanwhile, Kuznetsov previously was accused of “causing ethnic confrontation” and one of his books was a detail of the investigation. Lawyer Elman Pashayev was advocate of the Russian historian, author of the “History of transnational terrorism in the twentieth century”, Oleg Kuznetsov. 

But Pashayev became famous for defending the actor Mikhail Efremov, who mowed down a pedestrian while drunk driving and was the source of a huge scandal in Moscow elite society about what to do with him.

Such a famous and shady Moscow lawyer with multiple disbarments, experience dealing with spooks, handing out hush money, and defending famous people was called in to handle the tankers’ case?

Very strange indeed.

I am now 80% convinced now that there was a hit put out on Bentley by someone high-up in Moscow and in the Donbass governments both. I just really hope that the reason for his murder wasn’t something as banal as him critiquing The Shoigu’s handling of the war and the FSB.

But you never know.

Our wise leaders in Moscow are actually quite prickly and petty.