US soldier pleads ‘partially’ guilty in Russian theft case

AFP | Moscow, Russia

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A US soldier held in Russia denied threatening a Russian woman with murder while also pleading “partially” guilty to theft in a court in the far eastern city of Vladivostok yesterday.

Gordon Black was arrested in early May in Vladivostok, where he was visiting a Russian woman he met and dated while serving in South Korea. He is the latest US citizen to be held in Russia.

The 34-year-old was detained after the woman, named by Russian media as Alexandra Vashuk, reported him to the police after an argument.

Russian media quoted Black as saying he was “partially guilty” of theft but that it was not premeditated, and that he was “not guilty” of allegedly threatening Vashuk with murder.

Vashuk had accused Black of allegedly stealing some 10,000 rubles (100 euros) from her and said he had physically attacked her.

Black said she had started an argument after drinking. He said the pair met in October 2022 on the dating app Tinder in South Korea and had dated there, before Vashuk then invited him to come to Vladivostok.

He said he did not plan to take the money and intended to give it back, saying he took it because he could not access from Russia his money, held in a US bank.

The charges carry up to five years in prison. Black has been kept in pre-trial detention since his arrest in May.