He’s news right now because of all the rumors about what the Chechens/Buryats did to him before they killed him.
There is a pretty decent chance there is more to the story than you know. Ex-con is where domestic intel recruits informants heavily. One FBI agent said there are more spies per capita n prisons than there are anywhere else in the world, from DC to Moscow. It is a small step from domestic intel to CIA.
He was slipping away from the wife and his unit, heading to Donbass for unknown reasons. I would not be surprised he was CIA, and got caught trying to make contact.
Russians probably prefer the myth of him to releasing the reality, and that is the confusion.