A US soldier has been detained in Russia, becoming the latest US national to be incarcerated in the North Asian country.
US Army Staff Sergeant Gordon D. Black was arrested in Vladivostok, a Pacific port city just north of the North Korean border, on May 2 on suspicion of theft.
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Black is accused of stealing from a woman, Pentagon officials told CBS News.
US officials are working on determining how the US Army sergeant made his way to Russia.
Black was stationed in South Korea and is believed to have traveled to Russia on his own.
The staff sergeant was in the process of changing duty stations from South Korea to Fort Cavazos, previously known as Fort Hood, in Texas.
The US Army notified Black’s family and the US Department of State about his detention.
National Security Council John Kirby told reporters on Monday that the US is aware of Black’s detention in Russia but declined to get into detail.
Black’s arrest is the latest suspected criminal encounter involving US nationals in recent years.
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The US government is still trying to work out a deal with Moscow over jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
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Gershkovich, 32, was arrested while on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg on March 29, 2023.
Russia’s security service, the FSB, charged Gershkovich with espionage – a charge that he, the Wall Street Journal, and the US government deny.
The FSB has alleged – without evidence – that the US journalist collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.
Days after his arrest, the US State Department declared his detention wrongful and called for his immediate release.
Moscow, however, has repeatedly extended his pre-trial detention.
At the end of January, Gershkovich’s detention was extended until the end of March – only to be extended for an additional three months until June 30.
In December 2022, WNBA star Brittney Griner was released as part of a prisoner exchange with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Griner spent nearly a year detained in a Russian prison after being arrested in Moscow airport on February 17, 2022, after customs agents found cannabis vape cartridges in her luggage.
Two months after Griner’s arrest, former US Marine Trevor Reed was freed following a 985-day detention in Russia.
Reed, who was arrested in Moscow in August 2019, was freed in April 2022 in a prisoner swap with Konstantin Yaroshenko – a Russian pilot who was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the US.
Meanwhile, ex-US Marine Paul Whelan remained jailed in Russia since being arrested more than five years ago.
Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 on charges of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020.
The former US Marine has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
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Whelan is being held in the remote Russian labor camp prison IK-17, about eight hours southeast of Moscow.
The US government has repeatedly warned Americans not to travel to Russia and urged US citizens abroad to depart immediately.
Source: Sun
