U.S. soldier charged with theft in Russia as TikTok videos shed light on relationship with Russian woman
An American soldier who was detained in eastern Russia while he was visiting a woman he was romantically involved with has been charged with “theft with major damage,” state media reported Wednesday.
Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was arrested in Vladivostok last week after he left his posting in South Korea. He was supposed to travel to Fort Cavazos, Texas, to begin a new assignment, but he opted to travel to Russia, instead, the Army said.
Details of the Russian criminal case are scant, but the state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported that Black had been charged, citing the Pervomaisky District Court of Vladivostok. He faces two months in pretrial detention.
Black is “accused of secretly stealing the property of a citizen T., causing the latter significant damage,” the court said, Ria Novosti reported.
Pictures emerged on social media that appeared to give some details about the relationship between Black and a Russian woman.
Radio Free Europe found what it says is the TikTok account of a woman who posted several videos of her apparently with Black in South Korea in 2022 and 2023. The woman said in the videos that she lived in South Korea for five years.
In one video, the woman invited Black to comment on U.S.-Russia relations. He said that NATO had been “pretty aggressive” and that relations between the two countries were better under former President Donald Trump.
“I understand Russia’s position — they want to defend their country,” he said.
Black's mother, Melody Jones, told CBS News on Monday that her son had traveled to Russia to visit his girlfriend.
The Army is investigating whether Black was lured to Vladivostok by Russian intelligence services, a Defense Department spokesperson said Tuesday.
Asked about that possibility, deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said: “This is something that the Army is looking into.”
Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said the detention had nothing to do with politics, the state news agency TASS reported.
Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith said separately Tuesday that Black did not have clearance to visit Russia. Black enlisted as an infantryman in 2008 and has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, she said.
In a separate interview, Singh said the Army was “looking into” whether Russian intelligence had targeted Black.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
