MOSCOW (AP) — A court in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on Wednesday convicted a visiting American soldier of theft and making death threats and sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison.
Staff Sergeant Gordon Black, 34, was arrested last month on suspicion of stealing from his girlfriend after flying to the Pacific port city to be with her, according to U.S. and Russian authorities.
Russian state news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti reported that a judge at Vladivostok’s Pervomaisky District Court also ordered Black to pay 10,000 rubles ($115) in damages. Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of four years and eight months.
Black’s sentence further complicates increasingly tense U.S.-Russian relations as fighting in Ukraine continues.
Russia imprisoned many AmericansIncluding corporate security executives Paul Whelan Wall Street Journal reporter Evan GershkovichThe U.S. government has determined that both men were wrongfully detained and is negotiating their release.
Others detained Travis Leakea musician who has lived in Russia for many years and was arrested last year on drug charges; Mark Fogel, a Moscow teacher who was also sentenced to 14 years in prison on drug charges; and dual national Ars Kurmasheba and Ksenia Kavanagh.
The US State Department strongly advises American citizens not to travel to Russia.
Black was on leave and was returning to his base at Fort Cavazos, Texas, from the 8th Army’s Camp Humphreys in South Korea.
Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said Black had been ordered home and “for personal reasons flew from Incheon, South Korea, via China to Vladivostok, Russia, instead of returning to the continental United States.”
Under Department of Defense policy, service members must get permission from their security manager or commander for any international travel.
The U.S. military last month Mr. Black did not seek authorization for such travel, and the Pentagon did not approve it, and it is highly unlikely that he would be approved given the hostilities in Ukraine and the threats to the United States and its troops.
Black’s girlfriend, Aleksandra Vashchuk, told reporters earlier this month that it was “just a domestic dispute” and that Black “became aggressive and attacked her.”
“Then he stole money from my wallet, which I did not allow him to do,” Vashchuk said.
She told Russian news outlet Gazeta.ru on Wednesday that she considered the sentence “very humane” and described Black as a “violent person who could not control himself.”
U.S. authorities have said Black, who is married, met Vashchuk in South Korea.
According to U.S. officials, she had been living in South Korea but had some sort of domestic dispute or altercation with Mr. Black last fall, after which she left South Korea. It is unclear whether she was forced to leave South Korea or whether South Korean authorities played any role in the incident.
