A U.S. Army soldier has been detained by Russian authorities in the port city of Vladivostok on charges of criminal misconduct, the State and Defense Departments said Monday, adding what is likely to be another complication in the contentious relationship between Moscow and Washington. .
A military officer identified the soldier as Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, said he was in the process of returning to his home at Fort Cavazos in Texas after being stationed in South Korea. He was detained on May 2, and Russia notified the State Department of the soldier’s “criminal detention” in accordance with international agreements between the two nations.
“The Army has notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia,” Army spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith said in a statement.
A State Department official reiterated the US government’s warning to Americans not to travel to Russia. NBC News previously reported on Sergeant Black’s arrest.
The detention follows a pattern in recent years of Americans arrested in Russia and held, sometimes indefinitely, on what U.S. officials say are often trumped-up charges. The arrests have strained the already frayed relationship between Russia and the United States, which have clashed primarily over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but also over a host of other issues, including what Washington says is Moscow’s push to place a nuclear weapon in space. .
Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, has been jailed by Russian authorities for more than a year on espionage charges that he and his employer deny. The White House has designated him “wrongfully detained” and President Biden reiterated calls for his release last month.
Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive and former US Marine, is serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on what the US government has called trumped-up espionage charges. Brittney Griner, a professional basketball player, was detained in Russia for about 10 months and released in December 2022 in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian convicted of plotting to kill Americans and providing material support to a terrorist group.
And in February, Russia’s top security agency said a dual Russian-U.S. citizen had been arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on charges of treason by raising funds for Ukraine. The woman, who lived in Los Angeles, is accused of sending just over $50 to a New York-based nonprofit that sends aid to Ukraine. She could face up to 20 years in prison.
It took weeks of diplomacy for the United States to secure the return of another Army soldier who was recently arrested in a hostile country. The soldier, Pvt. Travis T. King, was released in October after being detained by North Korean authorities. He had crossed into that country from South Korea without authorization in July through the border village of Panmunjom.