A Russian court has remanded an American soldier who was detained in Vladivostok in the Far East and accused of theft. Thirty-four-year-old non-commissioned officer Gordon Black will remain in custody until at least July 2, the Russian state agency RIA Novosti reported, citing a court spokesman.
Vladivostok
7:28 am May 7, 2024
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American Soldier Uniform (Illustrative Photo) | Source: Profimedia
According to American media, the soldier served in South Korea and, after the end of this deployment, traveled to Russia on his own initiative and without the permission of his superiors to see a woman with whom he had developed a romantic relationship. Russian authorities suspect him of robbing the woman, NBC News reported.
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Citing an unnamed source, the Izvestiya newspaper wrote that the American lived with the woman in question, whom he met on the Internet, for some time before beating her, robbing her of 200,000 rubles (about 51,000 crowns) and some alcohol. This is ordinary criminality and not politics or espionage, Russian media claim.
“The Russian Federation notified the US State Department of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” military spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said shortly after the initial US media reports. The authorities have notified the soldier’s relatives. Meanwhile, the American Embassy in Moscow tried to establish contact with the soldier.
Several people with American citizenship are currently in custody in Russia. The best-known cases are the reporter Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage last year, and the former soldier Paul Whelan, detained in 2018, which Washington calls unjustly imprisoned. Recently, a Moscow court sentenced David Barnes to 21 years in prison for abusing his children, which his Russian ex-wife accused him of.
The US accuses Moscow of sending American citizens to prison in an attempt to exchange them for Russians detained in the United States.
CTK
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