This content was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
In a situation that affects Moscow’s relationships further, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Gordon Black was detained in Vladivostok in the Far East in early May. He was scheduled to go on test on June 6.
Black was arrested in late May and initially charged with stealing 10, 000 rubles ]$ 110] from his Russian girlfriend Aleksandra Vashchuk. Moreover, he was accused of “forcibly grabbing” Vashchuk by the throat during a fight that she perceived as a risk to her life.
If found innocent, the 34- yr- ancient Black faces up to seven years in prison.
Vladivostok’s Pervomaisky city judge started the test on June 6, with Vashchuk and a see questioned.
Vashchuk asked the court never to give Black to jail, saying he needed medical assistance.
” He is just an angry man. He does not need to be imprisoned. He deserves care, which he was certainly provided by his nation, although they knew about his situation…The person needs help. Yes, he committed a murder, but he did not do something so awful to be sent to incarceration”, Vashchuk said.
After the evidence, the prosecution was therefore adjourned until June 17.
Prior to his arrest, U.S. government claimed that Black had been detained in Russia and had been accused of stealing from a lady after moving from South Korea to China via which he had been assigned before returning home to Texas without informing his bosses.
Weeks afterwards, Russian officials also said that another U. S. member, identified as William Russell Nycum, had been detained in late April on “petty violence” and drinking fees in a separate event, adding that Nycum was being held in a detention centre in Moscow.
In the midst of fierce disagreements between Moscow and Washington over the conflict in Ukraine and other international security issues, questions have been raised about whether Russian authorities are targeting Americans by detaining them and then using them in potential prisoner swaps following the two arrests.
As tensions between Moscow and Washington have reached their highest levels since the Cold War, the arrests of Black and Nycum added to a list of Americans who are currently being held in Russia under various circumstances.
Journalists Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL and Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal are just two of the people being detained. Both have been detained on charges they, their employers, and their supporters reject as politically motivated.
American Paul Whelan and the U.S. government have repeatedly refuted espionage charges, leading to his conviction and sentence in the Russian prison in 2020.
The cases involving Black and Nycum are not political, according to Russia’s foreign ministry, and neither are they suspected of espionage.
The State Department in September 2023 issued a “do not travel” warning to U. S. citizens and cited” the singling out of U. S. citizens for detention by Russian government security officials”.
