Army Staff Sgt. Gordon D. Black, a 35-year-old United States soldier, was detained in Russia on charges of stealing from a girlfriend he was visiting in Vladivostok during a two-week leave from his station in South Korea, while another American was sent to jail for ten days after being drunk and disorderly in Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the soldier’s case had no political element and there were no allegations of espionage: “As far as we understand, this is a purely everyday crime” according to a TASS report.
Criminal cases against Americans in Russia have assumed diplomatic significance in recent years, including a drugs case against basketball star Brittney Griner freed last year in a prisoner swap, and an espionage case against Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, which he and his employer deny.
The Army and National Security Council confirmed Monday that Black was detained in Russia for alleged criminal misconduct.
The Russian interior ministry in Vladivostok said a 32-year-old woman had filed a complaint against the 34-year-old suspect. The two had met in South Korea. The American had come to Vladivostok to visit her, the two had an argument, and she later filed a police report accusing him of stealing money, it said.
He was arrested in a hotel after buying a plane ticket to return home.
Separately, Moscow’s court service said that a U.S. citizen named William Russell Nycum had been remanded to custody for 10 days for “petty hooliganism.”
Nycum had been drinking with friends at a bar before allegedly climbing into a children’s library in Moscow, where he had allegedly been found naked in an incident the Russian interior ministry said, “expressed obvious disrespect to society, citizens and public order.”
According to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, CCTV footage captured a partially-naked Nycum allegedly breaking into a children’s library.
“In accordance with the protocol on an administrative offense, a U.S. citizen drank alcoholic beverages, then was found in the yard, naked, expressed obvious disrespect for society, citizens and public order, for which he was detained by police officers,” said a Moscow court spokesperson.
On May 2, “Russian authorities in Vladivostok, Russia, detained an American Soldier on charges of criminal misconduct,” said U.S. Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith.
“The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” Smith said. “The Army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia.”
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby also told reporters Monday that the White House is aware of the detained soldier.
“I told him I was really uncomfortable,” said Black’s mother, Melody Jones, recalling a conversation with her son before his trip. “I had a bad feeling about him going, but he went anyway.”
U.S. officials confirmed on Monday that Black left South Korea of his own volition and was not granted any kind of permission to travel to Russia.
Vladivostok is a port city in southeast Russia near the borders with North Korea and China.
Upon arrival in Russia, Jones said Black told her he was questioned by authorities at the airport for “nine hours.”
“He said he was when he got off the plane, that he was pulled to the back in this room for nine hours and questioned why he was there,” Jones said.
Jones said she did not know if her son had a visa to visit Russia.
Jones was critical of her son’s girlfriend, whom she says he met at a club in South Korea over a year ago. Jones claims her son told her the girlfriend was deported to Russia from South Korea after she and Black allegedly got into a dispute in the fall of 2023.
“I knew something was going to happen,” Jones said.