A US Army Staff Sergeant faces detention in Eastern Russia after allegedly straying from official duties to visit a woman described by many as his girlfriend. Gordon Black was supposed to return home to Texas after completing a deployment in South Korea. However, he instead traveled nearly 400 miles into Russia to the city of Vladivostok without permission from the Army.
US officials claim Black was not on official business and suggest he made the unauthorized trip to visit a woman he was romantically involved with from his time in South Korea two years prior. Black’s mother, Melody Jones, pleaded with Russian authorities not to harm him, implying he may have been detained for an alleged theft from this same woman.
Black now remains in pre-trial confinement in Russia. The US State Department has been notified of his detention per the Vienna Convention and is providing consular assistance. However, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul warned that “Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage” and cautioned against travel to Russia.
The situation highlights long-standing tensions between the US and Russia over the detentions of one another’s citizens. The US government commonly warns its citizens about travel risks due to patterns of Americans being arrested and detained indefinitely by Russia, sometimes as negotiating leverage. These detentions often occur under ambiguous circumstances and questionable charges like espionage.
Recent high-profile cases include the release of basketball star Brittney Griner in a 2022 prisoner swap for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout after her 9-year sentence on cannabis charges. However, the swap left behind other detained Americans like Paul Whelan, imprisoned since 2018 on espionage allegations after traveling for a wedding. Marc Fogel, a teacher, was sentenced to 14 years hard labor in 2022 over medical marijuana charges.
Most recently, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich faces espionage charges after his 2023 arrest while reporting on Russia’s arms industry. He is the first American journalist charged with spying in Russia since the Cold War era in 1986.