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France 24
France 24
Politics
Sébastian SEIBT

Who was the 'Donbass Cowboy', the pro-Russian Texan who died in Donetsk?

Russell Bentley, also known as "Donbas Cowboy", was a pro-Russian American ex-soldier who died in Donetsk. © Graphic made by France Médias Monde

Russell Bentley, a Texas native better known by his nickname "Donbass Cowboy", died in mysterious circumstances near Donetsk. His death provoked a strong reaction in Russian ultra-nationalist circles, where Bentley had made a name for himself over the past ten years by travelling through the territories occupied by pro-Russian forces in Ukraine.

Just a month ago, Russell Bentley was thanking his “guardian angels” in an interview with Newsweek for helping him escape death “hundreds of times” since 2014. But his luck finally ran out, and the man who called himself “Texas” or “Donbass Cowboy” was killed in Donetsk, in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Donbas region. His death was announced by the Russian media on April 19.

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