An American soldier, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, was detained in eastern Russia while visiting a woman he had a romantic involvement with, as reported by state media on Wednesday.
Black was apprehended in Vladivostok last week after departing from his assignment in South Korea. Despite his scheduled transfer to Fort Cavazos, Texas, for a new assignment, he chose to travel to Russia instead, according to the U.S. Army.
While details of the Russian criminal case remain limited, the state-run news agency Ria Novosti revealed that Black had been formally charged, with the Pervomaisky District Court of Vladivostok cited in the report. He is facing two months of pre-trial detention.
The court specified that Black stands accused of clandestinely appropriating property belonging to a citizen referred to as “T.,” resulting in significant damage to the latter, as per Ria Novosti.
The confirmation of the charge coincided with the emergence of pictures on social media providing insights into Black’s relationship with a Russian woman.
Radio Free Europe identified what appears to be the TikTok account of a woman who shared several videos purportedly featuring herself and Black in South Korea in 2022 and 2023. In these videos, the woman, claiming to have lived in South Korea for five years, engaged Black in discussions about U.S.-Russia relations. Black expressed views regarding NATO’s aggressiveness and suggested that relations between the two nations were better during the tenure of former President Donald Trump.
Black’s mother, Melody Jones, disclosed to CBS News on Monday that her son had traveled to Russia to visit his girlfriend.
The U.S. Army is currently probing whether Black was enticed to Vladivostok by Russian intelligence services, stated a Pentagon spokesperson on Tuesday.
Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh addressed inquiries about this possibility, stating, “This is something that the Army is looking into.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry asserted that the detention was unrelated to political matters, as reported by state news agency TASS.
Separately, Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith affirmed on Tuesday that Black did not have authorization to visit Russia. Black, who enlisted as an infantryman in 2008, has served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In another statement, Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh reiterated that the Army was investigating whether Black had been targeted by Russian intelligence.