An American soldier arrested last week in the Russian Far East was remanded in custody until July 2 in a murder case. « vol »a court in Vladivostok announced on Tuesday, May 7.
Gordon Black faces up to five years in prison, according to the Russian penal code. The Telegram news channel Baza, known to be close to the police, as well as the daily Izvestia explained that the American soldier visited his Russian girlfriend in Vladivostok, before “to beat her” and of “steal 200,000 rubles (around 2,000 euros) and alcohol from him”.
“This case is not linked to politics or espionage”assured the representation of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Vladivostok on Tuesday.
The White House “in the know”
On Monday, a US Army spokeswoman, Cynthia Smith, said that this soldier, deployed in South Korea according to American media, had been arrested “on the basis of a criminal charge”, without being able to provide more details. The White House, for its part, claimed to be ” aware “ of the situation.
In a separate case, another American citizen was sentenced on May 3 to ten days in prison in Moscow for “minor crime”, according to a notice appearing on the website of the Moscow courts, consulted Tuesday by Agence France-Presse. According to the Ria Novosti agency, this individual fell asleep, drunk, in a children’s library.
In recent years, several American citizens have been arrested and given long sentences in Russia. Washington, which has supported Ukraine militarily and financially against the Russian army for more than two years, accuses Moscow of wanting to exchange them for Russians detained in the United States.