U.S. soldier has sentence reduced for threats of murder and stealing by court in Russia

NBC News

07-04-2025

An American soldier who was found guilty of making threats of murder and stealing in Russia had his more than three-year prison sentence reduced by seven months on Monday, state media reported.
Last June, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was sentenced to three years and nine months in the district of Primorsky Krai.
But a court Monday reduced his sentence to three years and two months, both Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported.
Black flew to the Pacific port city of Vladivostok in May 2024 to see his Russian girlfriend, where he was arrested after she accused him of stealing from her, according to American officials and Russian authorities.
As well as the prison sentence, Black was also ordered to pay 10,000 roubles (about $90 at the time) in damages.
The soldier 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.
Black had been on leave and was due to return from Camp Humphreys, where he was stationed in South Korea with the Eighth Army, to his home base in Fort Cavazos, Texas.
But 'instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea, through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons,' then-deputy press secretary at the Pentagon, Sabrina Singh, told reporters shortly after his arrest.
He had not sought travel clearance as mandated under Pentagon policy, she added.
Alexandra Vashchuk, the woman he was romantically involved with, said they had 'a simple domestic dispute' when Black 'became aggressive and attacked' her, stealing money from her wallet.
Vashchuk was living in South Korea when she first met Black, according to U.S. officials, but left the country shortly afterward.
Tensions between Moscow and Washington in recent years have seen a number of Americans, including corporate security executive Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and teacher Marc Fogel, be wrongfully detained and jailed in Russia. All three have been freed.
Shortly after Black's detention, a Pentagon spokesperson said the U.S. was investigating whether he had been lured to Russia by the country's intelligence services.
Russian Foreign Ministry's office in Vladivostok said at the time that it had nothing to do with politics, Tass reported at the time.
'This case has no relation to politics or espionage. As far as we understand, a household crime [is suspected] in this case. That is why the Russian Foreign Ministry's mission in Vladivostok is not following the case of the U.S. citizen closely,' the mission was quoted by the agency as saying.
Black, whose Facebook page and public records indicate he's from southern Illinois, enlisted in the U.S. Army as an infantryman in 2008. From October 2009 through September 2010, he served in Iraq. He also served in Afghanistan from June 2013 until March 2014, according to Smith.