The worried mother of a U.S. soldier detained in Russia said Wednesday that her son was being held on trumped-up charges that he was “seduced” by a Russian woman he had been seeing in South Korea for more than a year and stole about $100 from South Korea. Told. she.
Melody Jones said she believes her son is Sgt. Gordon Black was framed by his girlfriend, who called herself Aleksandra Vaszczuk.
“I think she convinced him to come there,” Jones said in a video interview from her home in Cheyenne, Wyoming. “He went there because he wanted to see her one last time before going back to her home.”
Russian authorities detained Black, 34, on suspicion of theft last week after he traveled from a South Korean military base where he was stationed to Vladivostok, a city in Russia’s far east.
A Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday that the Army is investigating whether Russian intelligence specifically targeted Black people.
“An administrative investigation is underway to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding his travel,” Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a press conference on Tuesday.
The military said Black, a 16-year veteran, was headed to Fort Cavazos, Texas, to begin a new assignment.
When asked why black people would risk traveling to a country where other Americans are being held against their will, Jones had a one-word answer:
“She,” she said. “He met her at the bar where she worked and they spent time together on and off for about a year and a half. I’ve never met her in person, but I’ve talked to her on Messenger. My maternal instincts told me there was something wrong with her.”
Jones said of her son, who is in the midst of divorce proceedings, “He is a good boy with a lovely crooked smile.”
“He was also a good soldier,” she said, and he speaks fluent Russian.
But Waszczuk had some control over him, she said.
“My husband and I were talking about it, but I don’t know what it is,” Jones said. “Why is she so attached to him?”
On Tuesday, Radio Free Europe discovered what was said to be the TikTok account of a woman who posted multiple videos of what appeared to be black people in South Korea in 2022 and 2023. She said in the video that she had lived in South Korea for five years.
Jones said the woman looked like Vaszczuk.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry in Vladivostok said Black’s detention had nothing to do with politics or espionage.
Mr. Black does not have Pentagon clearance to visit Russia and there is no indication he plans to stay there, Army spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith said early Tuesday.
“For personal reasons, Mr. Black flew from Incheon, South Korea, via China, to Vladivostok, Russia, instead of returning to the mainland United States,” Smith said in a statement.
When Black landed in Vladivostok, he was charged with “secretly stealing the property” of a person known as “Citizen T” and was ordered to be detained until at least July 2, a spokesperson for the Pervomaysky District Court said. Elena Oleneva said in a statement on Tuesday.
The court confirmed that Black will be detained for at least two months.
Jones said her son told her he was wearing civilian clothes when he was taken off the plane and questioned for several hours.
Black, who grew up in a small town in southern Illinois, joined the Army as an infantryman in 2008, Smith said. According to Smith, he served in Iraq from October 2009 to September 2010. He also served in Afghanistan from June 2013 to March 2014.
Most recently, Black was assigned to the Eighth Army and based at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, the largest overseas U.S. military installation in the world, Smith said.
On April 10, Black was placed “out of process” and given two weeks to arrive in Texas, Smith said.
The State Department’s current travel guidelines recommend against traveling to Russia.
Jones said her son told her he was planning to stop in Vladivostok before flying to Texas.
“The local government had captured an American and I was worried he would leave,” she said.
The captured Americans include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was imprisoned in March 2023, and former Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018.
“I told him not to go,” Jones said. “I was more worried about him going to Russia than I was about him being in Iraq or Afghanistan.”
Jones said her son texted her after he was taken into custody.
“The last thing he said to me was, ‘Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine,'” she said.
Jones said her son had listed her as an emergency contact and that’s why she received a call from the State Department on Thursday saying her son had been arrested by Russians. She said she hasn’t heard from anyone since then and doesn’t know if her wife has been in contact with the military.
“They have a 6-1/2-year-old daughter,” Jones said. “And she misses her daddy.”
Jones said Black was not her only son. She has two others and a daughter. So she won’t be alone on her Mother’s Day.
“Gordon called me at least once a week,” she said. “And he always sends me flowers for his Mother’s Day. Last time it was two dozen red roses. But I don’t think it’ll be possible this year.”
