‘Comrade Texas’: Video of American on Russian frontline provokes anger
‘This guy thinks he’s killing Nazis, but in reality he’s doing a Tsar’s bidding’
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Your support makes all the difference.An American man allegedly wanted by the US Marshals Service has been condemned for appearing on the Russian “frontline” in Ukraine.
Russell Bonner Bentley III, who goes by the name “Comrade Texas“ or “Tejas” in Russia, was seen talking-up the Kremlin’s chances of “liberating” Ukraine from “Nazis” in a recent video.
“It’s Tejas on the front line with the deNazifiers and liberators of Ukraine,” Mr Bentley said while standing in front of Russian tanks on Monday. “These guys are tough, these guys are ready, and there’s plenty of them”.
He continued by saying that Russia was “ready to bring the hammer down” on the “bad guys”, and air-kicked an imaginary Ukrainian.
His remarks mirrored those of Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has styled his war on Ukraine as a “military operation” to “deNazify” an “anti-Russian” country run by a Jewish man who speaks Russian as well as Ukrainian.
While “Tejas’s” video from the “frontline” was taken down on YouTube by Wednesday – more than 2 million Twitter users had seen the video after it was shared by user “Bad Weapons Takes”.
The account wrote along with the video of the Texan: “That feeling when the weird uncle you only see at Thanksgiving turns up in Ukraine”.
“This guy thinks he’s killing Nazis, but in reality he’s doing a Tsar’s bidding in doing imperialism,” an enraged Twitter user added.
“Between this and the butchers from Chechnya, Putin’s becoming a low-rent Sauron, summoning evil and stupid people from all over the world to aide his cause,” argued another.
According to o Texas Monthly, Mr Bentley was wanted by the US Marshals Service for drug trafficking, and also ran for a Senate seat on a pro-marijuana platform, before leaving the US for Russia following the Kremlin’s invasion of Crimea, a southern peninsula of Ukraine.
Mr Bentley – or “Comrade Texas” – reportedly served time in prison in the US, although it was unclear what for.
The US Marshals Service was approached for comment by The Independent.
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