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MOSCOW (AP) — An appellate court in Russia’s far east on Monday
reduced the prison sentence for an American soldier convicted of
stealing and making threats of murder, Russia's state news
agency RIA Novosti reported.
Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city of
Vladivostok to see his girlfriend and was arrested in May 2024
after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S.
officials and Russian authorities. A month later, a court in
Vladivostok convicted him and sentenced him to three years and
nine months in prison. Black was also ordered to pay 10,000
rubles ($115 at the time) in damages.
Black lost one appeal in a regional court that upheld his
sentence, but the judge in the 9th Court of Cassation on Monday
agreed to reduce his sentence to three years and two months in
prison. Black's defense had asked the court to acquit him of
making threats of murder and reduce the punishment for theft, a
request the judge partially sustained, according to the RIA
report.
Russia has jailed a number of Americans in recent years as
tensions between Moscow and the West grew. Some, like corporate
security executive Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter
Evan Gershkovich and teacher Marc Fogel, were designated by the
U.S. government as wrongfully detained and released in prisoner
swaps.
A few others remain jailed in Russia on drug or assault
convictions. They include Robert Gilman, 72, who was handed a 3
1/2-year sentence after being found guilty of assaulting a
police officer following a drunken disturbance on a train, and
Travis Leake, a musician who was convicted on drug charges and
sentenced to 13 years in prison in July 2024.
Black was on leave and in the process of returning to his home
base at Fort Cavazos, Texas, from South Korea, where he had been
stationed at Camp Humphreys with the Eighth Army.
The U.S. Army said Black signed out for his move back home and,
“instead of returning to the continental United States, Black
flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea, through China to
Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons.”
Under Pentagon policy, service members must get clearance for
any international travel from a security manager or commander.
The U.S. Army said last month that Black hadn’t sought such
travel clearance and it wasn’t authorized by the Defense
Department. Given the hostilities in Ukraine and threats to the
U.S. and its military, it is extremely unlikely he would have
been granted approval.
Black’s girlfriend, Alexandra Vashchuk, told reporters last year
that “it was a simple domestic dispute,” during which Black
“became aggressive and attacked” her, stealing money from her
wallet. She described Black as “violent and unable to control
himself.”
U.S. officials have said that Black, who is married, met
Vashchuk in South Korea.
According to U.S. officials, she had lived in South Korea, and
last fall she and Black got into some type of domestic dispute
or altercation. After that, she left South Korea. It isn’t clear
if she was forced to leave or what, if any, role South Korean
authorities had in the matter.
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