A US Army soldier has been detained by Russian authorities in the port city of Vladivostok on charges of criminal misconduct, the State and Defense ministries said on Monday, adding what is likely to be a new complication in the contentious relationship between Moscow and Washington.
A military official identified the soldier as Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, and said he was in the process of returning to Fort Cavazos, Texas, after being stationed in South Korea. He was detained on May 2 and Russia notified the Foreign Ministry 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,” Cynthia O. Smith, an Army spokeswoman, said in a statement.
A State Department official reiterated the U.S. government's warning to Americans not to travel to Russia. Sergeant Black's arrest was NBC News previously reported this.
The detention follows a pattern in recent years of Americans being arrested and held, sometimes indefinitely, in Russia on what U.S. officials say are often trumped-up charges. The detentions have gnawed at the already deeply troubled relationship between Russia and the United States, which have clashed mainly over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but also over a range of other issues, including what Washington says Moscow is trying to placing a nuclear weapon in space.
Evan Gershkovicha reporter for The Wall Street Journal, has been imprisoned by Russian authorities for more than a year on charges of espionage that he and his employer reject. The White House appointed him 'wrongfully detained' and President Biden repeated calls before his release last month.
Paul Whelana corporate security officer and former U.S. Marine, is serving a 16-year prison sentence in a Russian penal colony on what the U.S. government has called trumped-up spying charges. Brittney Grinnera professional basketball player, was held in Russia for about ten months released December 2022 in exchange for Victor Bouta Russian convicted of conspiring to murder Americans and providing material support to a terrorist group.
And in February, Russia's main security service said a dual citizen of Russia and the United States had been arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on charges of treason by raising money for Ukraine. The woman, who lived in Los Angeles, is accused of sending just over $50 to a New York-based nonprofit sends aid to Ukraine. She faces up to 20 years in prison.
It cost weeks of diplomacy for the United States to secure the return of another Army soldier recently arrested in an unfriendly country. The soldier, Pvt. Travis T. King, was released in October after being detained by North Korean authorities. He had entered that country from South Korea without permission in July the border village of Panmunjom.