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A US soldier has been detained in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok on charges of theft, in the latest high-profile arrest of an American citizen by Russian authorities.
Both the US army and Russian law enforcement confirmed the arrest, which took place last week while Staff Sergeant Gordon Black was on a trip from South Korea, where he had been stationed at a US base.
NBC News was first to report the identity of the 34-year-old soldier, who is married. Black had travelled to Vladivostok on a “side trip” after completing his deployment in South Korea and without the permission of his superiors, according to NBC. A local court in Vladivostok confirmed his identity, the state news agency Ria reported.
A second US citizen was detained on Tuesday by police in Moscow for “minor hooliganism”, state news agencies reported, naming him as Nikum William Russell and saying he was detained for being drunk and naked in a public place. The court issued him a punishment of 10 days in prison.
The US soldier, however, was placed in pre-trial detention until July 2, while an investigation is ongoing. Long stretches in pre-trial detention often characterise cases where Moscow is seeking to use the foreign national to increase its bargaining power for prisoner swaps with the west amid its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Several US nationals are currently imprisoned in Russia on charges of espionage or other political crimes, and are considered hostages by Washington, including former US marine Paul Whelan, who was detained in 2018, and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is still in pre-trial detention after being detained in March 2023.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday the arrest of the US soldier in Vladivostok, however, was not political or related to espionage, according to state news agency Tass. It also said police detained Black on Thursday at a Vladivostok hotel and that he had already purchased plane tickets back to the US. The local court ruled on Friday to place the man in pre-trial detention on charges of theft until July 2.
The soldier entered Russia to visit his girlfriend, a Russian national he met in South Korea, according to local police in Russia’s far-eastern Primorsky Krai region, which borders China and North Korea.
The couple then had a disagreement, the police said. After Black left, his girlfriend accused him of stealing money and reported him to law enforcement.
“It was established that the applicant was in a relationship with a foreign citizen, whom she met in the Republic of Korea, where she was working,” the police in Primorsky Krai said. “Having returned to Vladivostok, the girl continued to communicate with the young man online.”
Black had arrived at her house on April 10, and “later had a conflict” with her, the police said. “After he left, the girl found the money missing and turned to the police for help.”
Russia notified the US state department shortly after his arrest, according to US Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith. The military then informed his family, Smith said in a statement.
The US warns American citizens against all travel to Russia due to the risk of wrongful detention. Negotiations are ongoing between Washington and Moscow to arrange a hostage exchange that would secure the release of Gershkovich, the journalist, who was arrested in Ekaterinburg in 2023, as well as other wrongfully detained Americans.