Liberal super PAC spreads false claim a ‘Republican from Texas’ is aiding Russia in Ukraine—he’s a communist

Medias Touch retweeted a video that shows Russell "Texas" Bentley III speaking "on the frontlines" of the war between the two nations. They falsely labeled him a "Republican from Texas."

Bentley said that he is there with the "de-nazifiers and liberators of Ukraine" with what appears to be Russian soldiers and tanks in the background.

"These guys are tough, these guys are ready, and there’s plenty of 'em," Bentley continued. "So far, Russia has used about 10 percent of its military power, and we’re getting ready to bring the hammer down."

"These guys are going to save and liberate all the good people in Ukraine, and the bad people, boom, kick their a**," Bentley continued, making the motion of kicking someone.

This video was posted to Bentley’s YouTube channel on February 28.

Medias Touch retweeted the video from Independent international correspondent Borzoi Daragahi, who had written: "Just a good ol’ boy apparently embedded with Russian forces in Ukraine."

Medias Touch wrote: "Here’s a Republican from Texas fighting alongside the Russians and filming propaganda videos for them. This is treason."

This tweet appears to have since been deleted from the Medias Touch account. The post appears on an archived"> link.

In 2018, the Texas Monthly profiled Bentley for their magazine, highlighting how Bentley was drawn into fighting for the Russians and revealing his communist beliefs.

Bentley traveled to Russia in December of 2014, nearly a year after the country had annexed Crimea.

Before, Bentley had held a number of roles in the US, including being an Army engineer, a marijuana legalization activist, a drug trafficker, and in 1992, Bentley ran for the US House of Representatives in Minnesota as a "grassroots" nominee.

When he first arrived in Donetsk, in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, he reportedly settled into a unit called Sut’ Vremeni, or "Essence of Time," a Stalinist communist movement, according to the Texas Monthly.

In June of 2015, his unit was transferred to a special forces battalion, and with his age, Bentley would not be suited for his new role.

Instead, Bentley became what he calls an "information warrior," creating English-spoken media from the Russian lines.

"We wanted to do information war—information defense—against the propaganda that the Western media has launched against the people of Donbass and the people that defend Donbass," Bentley explained to local and online listeners of his FM radio Show. “We are going to bring the truth to you live from here."

Months later though, he was kicked off the show due to disputes over pay, and started his YouTube channel, where the video tweeted by Midas touch appears.

In an in-person interview with Bentley at the Kalininsky 4/4 memorial with a Texas Monthly reporter, Bentley equated the horrors of the site, which served as grounds for Nazis and their collaborators disposed of bodies, to the actions of Ukraine and its allies.

"The Nazis brought people here every day—dead bodies, but also live people—and just threw them down this shaft," he explained. "When you murder a whole family by throwing them down a hole, do you throw the parents or the kids in first? That’s what we’re fighting here. That’s the kind of monsters we’re fighting with."

Speaking with the reporter about his upbringing, he said that his political beliefs were further strengthened during a trip to Cuba in which he had dinner with a captain in the Cuban army. Bentley said that he had long considered himself a socialist.

"Well, I’m a communist," she replied.

"What’s the difference?" he asked.

"A communist is someone who is willing to fight for socialism," she said.

Bentley then said, "Then I’m a communist too. I’m willing to fight for it."

"Bentley, I discovered, is a new kind of soldier in the information war, a freelancer who has garnered a loyal following precisely because he claims to be independent from state or corporate control. In truth, of course, he often echoes the talking points spun out by Russian news sources. And in that respect, he is part of an emerging crop of self-styled information warriors loyal to authoritarian regimes," the Texas Monthly reported.