<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3OpPUz_0eW4rE7L00" style="display:none" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3OpPUz_0eW4rE7L00" width="1880" height="1410" ><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0264R1_0eW4rE7L00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0264R1_0eW4rE7L00" width="2222" height="1666" ><figcaption>Pro-Russian separatists, in uniforms without insignia, gather in the separatist-controlled settlement of Mykolaivka (Nikolaevka) and Bugas, in Donetsk region (DPR) of Ukraine on March 01, 2022. Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images </figcaption></figure><ul class="summary-list"><li> Texas native Russell Bentley went viral this week for a video where he's shown cheering Russian troops invading Ukraine. </li><li> He told Insider he wants to "liberate" Ukraine from "Nazis" and "fascists." </li><li> Ukraine is a democracy with a Jewish president. </li></ul> Texas native Russell Bentley remembers his reaction when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> "It was about time," he said. An American fighting for Russia-backed separatist forces in Ukraine's Donbas region, Bentley says that Putin's deadly invasion of a sovereign country is a good thing, actually. "The Russian army is gonna liberate Ukraine from foreign occupation, US Western fascist occupation, that's had a quisling government since 2014," Bentley told Insider, though Ukraine is a democracy and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was democratically elected. "It is going to, uh, disarm and dismantle the Ukrainian military." Bentley, who also goes by "Texas," became famous this week after a clip from one of his YouTube videos went viral <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CrazyFuckingVideos/comments/t3yoo8/man_from_texas_fighting_alongside_russia/" rel="nofollow"> on Reddit </a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/BadWeaponTakes/status/1498379906216046592" rel="nofollow"> Twitter </a> . In a California surfer dude-inflected Texan accent, he's seen cheering on Putin's troops. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> "It's Texas on the front line with the de-Nazifies and liberators of Ukraine," he announced. "These guys are tough, these guys are ready, and there's plenty of 'em." <blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote">—Bad Weapon Takes (@BadWeaponTakes) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1498379906216046592" rel="nofollow"> February 28, 2022 </a></blockquote> In a testy Skype video interview on Wednesday, Bentley, who left his home in the United States to help pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine in 2014, expressed beliefs that aligned with Putin's conspiracy theories that Ukraine needed to be "de-Nazified." He used the term to describe not only forces who are fighting to keep Ukraine whole, but for Zelensky, who is Jewish, and foreign governments that support democracy in Ukraine. Bentley said Ukraine is run by "Jewish oligarchs" but that he considers them "Pharisees." <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> "The government of Ukraine is completely owned and controlled by the fascists that own and control the United States government," he said. Bentley has claimed to be serving alongside separatist fighters for the Donetsk People's Republic, and says he produces videos of the Russian war that are "information warfare" but it's not clear if he is personally involved in fighting as Russia presses its advance into Ukraine. As chronicled in <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/son-wealthy-businessman-foot-soldier-vladimir-putin-russia-hacking/" rel="nofollow"> a 2018 Texas Monthly profile </a> and <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/russell-texas-bentley-putin-propaganda-ukraine-interview-1315433/" rel="nofollow"> recent Rolling Stone article </a> , Bentley was born in 1960 to a wealthy family in Los Angeles and spent his early years in Texas. He has time in the US Army, developing hardened communist beliefs on a trip to Cuba, advocated for marijuana legalization, was imprisoned for selling marijuana, escaped from prison, went back to prison, and ran for Senate in Minnesota. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> At the time of the 2014 Maidan Revolution, which involved ousting Russia-backed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and declarations of independence from forces in Donetsk and Luhansk, which are adjacent to Russia, Bentley was suspicious of the United States government and NATO more generally. <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/russell-texas-bentley-putin-propaganda-ukraine-interview-1315433/" rel="nofollow"> According to Rolling Stone </a> , he believed the events were orchestrated by George Soros, a billionaire and Jewish Holocaust survivor with left-wing political beliefs. Bentley quit his job, sold his possessions, broke up with his girlfriend, and, after a Thanksgiving meal with his family, traveled to Volgograd where he visited its monument to the Battle of Stalingrad. From there, he made his way to Donetsk and joined the Vostok battalion, which fights to keep Donetsk separate from the rest of Ukraine. He says he received citizenship from the Donetsk People's Republic, the government occupying the region, and later received Russian citizenship as well. He <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/russell-texas-bentley-interview-pro-russia-donbas-ukraine-1684450" rel="nofollow"> told Newsweek </a> he didn't plan to return to the US, expecting to "spend the rest of my life in prison for some bogus bullshit charge" if he did. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> His aim, he told Insider, was to fight Nazis. He referenced <a href="https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/03/02/what-is-ukraines-azov-battalion/" rel="nofollow"> the Azov Battalion </a> , a part of the Ukrainian National Guard known for its inclusion of Neo-Nazis, and falsely said that Nazis control Ukraine's political and military administration in its entirety. Asked why Russia would <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/babyn-yar-memorial-wasnt-hit-but-zelensky-finds-tool-to-rally-jews/" rel="nofollow"> drop bombs next to Babyn Yar </a> , where a memorial calls attention to the massacre of nearly 34,000 Jews at the site, he denied reality, called it "complete propaganda," and said Russia was being careful not to damage cultural sites. "The reason that this operation is taking so long is because the Russians are being absolutely as careful as they're being," Bentley said. "They're being so careful about not killing civilians, collateral damage." Eyewitnesses from Ukraine say Russian troops are holding civilians hostage and videos show their forces striking residential areas with missiles; NATO said there's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-is-cluster-bombing-ukraine-as-invasion-intensifies-nato-2022-3" rel="nofollow"> evidence </a> Russia has used highly dangerous cluster munitions in its offensive. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> In explaining his belief that Ukraine, the United States, and NATO countries were "Nazis" and "fascists," Bentley used <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fascism-corporations-corporatism-dictionary/" rel="nofollow"> an unverified quote often attributed to Benito Mussolini </a> that fascism was "the merger of state and corporate power," and that business leaders had far too much power in Western countries. Didn't Russia fit that definition, as <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/03/02/vladimir-putin-net-worth-2022/" rel="nofollow"> Putin rubs shoulders with oligarchs </a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/06/politics/oligarch-russia-billionaires-government-putin-sanctions/index.html" rel="nofollow"> keeps their wealth reliant on the Russian government </a> ? When asked the question, Bentley ended the call. "I hope that you'll get an education one of these days," he said. "Maybe read a book." Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russell-texas-bentley-fighting-for-russia-in-ukraine-2022-3" rel="nofollow"> Business Insider </a></div></body>

Mountain View, CA

Ukraine is a democracy with a Jewish president, but Russell Bentley says Russia is just trying to get rid of the Nazis.