NIn recent days, it has become known that another US citizen has been detained in Russia, this time, a soldier who had traveled to the country to visit his girlfriend. Gordon Black, as he was identified, was arrested on May 2, in Vladivostok, in the Far East of Russia, accused of stealing this woman with whom he had a romantic relationship. What is known about the case and the soldier?
The Pentagon said Black, 35, enlisted in the U.S. Army as an infantryman in 2008. He was recently assigned to the Eighth Army at Camp Humphreys, South Korea.
On April 10, he signed his departure from the Eighth Army with a permanent change of station to return to Fort Cavazos, Texas. However, instead of returning to the United States, he flew from South Korea to China and then to Russia “for personal reasons”, ending up detained in Vladivostok.
The local branch of the Russian Interior Ministry reported that Black was detained at a hotel in the city after a 32-year-old woman filed a complaint with police about robbery following an argument at her home.
“After he left, the girl discovered that she was missing money and asked the police for help (…) Police officers found the suspect in one of the city’s hotels. He had bought plane tickets and intended to return home “, he reported, according to Reuters.
Russian newspaper Izvestia quoted an unnamed source as saying the soldier had beaten the woman and stolen 200,000 Russian rubles, more than two thousand euros.
The Russian woman had had a relationship with Black after they met in South Korea, according to the Ministry. When she returned to Vladivostok, they kept in touch online.
Radio Free Europe said it found a TikTok account belonging to Black’s partner, Aleksandra Vashchuk, who posted numerous videos of the couple in South Korea, including at least one that shows Black in his US army uniform. In the hundreds of videos published, the woman repeatedly refers to Black as her “husband.”
Black’s mother gave an interview to ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ and criticized her son’s girlfriend. Melody Jones explained that her son met his girlfriend at a club in South Korea more than a year ago. The woman said her son told her that his girlfriend was deported from South Korea to Russia after she and Black allegedly clashed in the fall of 2023.
Melody Jones confirmed that her son was visiting his girlfriend at the time of his arrest. “I told him I felt very uncomfortable [com a viagem]”, he said. “I had a bad feeling about him going, but he went anyway”, he said.
The Pentagon confirmed that Black not only violated Army rules by traveling to Russia without authorization, he did so after passing through China.
The US Administration stated that it was “monitoring” the situation of the soldier, who will be detained until July 2, as announced by the Vladivostok court responsible for the case.
In recent years, several US citizens have been arrested and sentenced to long prison terms in Russia.
Washington, which supports Ukraine militarily and financially against the Russian Army, accuses Moscow of wanting to exchange American prisoners for Russian citizens detained in the United States.
Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and former correspondent for Agence France Presse in Moscow, was detained by the Russian security services (FSB) during a report in the Urals, in March 2023.
The journalist, a US citizen, is accused of espionage and could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Such a severe penalty has never been imposed on a foreign journalist since the end of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
The journalist rejects the accusations, as do the United States authorities and the newspaper where he works.
Russia has never substantiated the accusations or publicly presented evidence in this case.
The entire process was classified as secret.
Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), has been detained since October 2023 for failing to formally register in the country, as required by the Russian authorities.
Read Also: Russian Court Says Detained American Caused “Significant Damage”
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