2 U.S. Citizens, Including Soldier, Join List Of Americans Being Held In Russia

Russian officials said two U.S. nationals were arrested in separate cases, including a serving army member, raising renewed questions over whether Moscow is targeting Americans to detain and later use as bargaining chips in prisoner swaps.

The Pervomaisky district court in Russia's Far East city of Vladivostok ordered the arrest of U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black and sent him to pretrial detention until at least July 2, court spokeswoman Yelena Oleneva said on May 7.

U.S. authorities confirmed a U.S. soldier had been arrested in Russia and had been accused of stealing from a woman after traveling from South Korea -- where he was stationed -- without informing his superiors. However, they did not confirm his name. Reuters quoted the Pentagon as saying that the soldier traveled to Vladivostok through China without Pentagon clearance.

Russian authorities separately disclosed on May 7 that another American, identified by court officials as William Russell Nycum, had been detained 10 days ago in an unrelated case and was in custody in Moscow on "petty hooliganism" and alcohol charges.

Daniel Kanigan, deputy spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, told RFE/RL in an e-mail that “we can confirm that two U.S. citizens have been detained in Russia in the past week.” He did not confirm the name of either of the detained Americans.

The detentions add to a list of U.S. citizens being held in Russia under various circumstances and comes as tensions between Moscow and Washington are at the highest levels since the Cold War.

Among those being held are journalists Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL and Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal, who have been detained on charges they, their employers, and their supporters reject as politically motivated. Also being held is Paul Whelan, who in 2020 was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges that he and the U.S. government have repeatedly rejected.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, however, said the two news cases were not political and that neither is accused of espionage.

Black was charged with "theft causing significant damage to a citizen," Kommersant cited Oleneva as saying. The maximum penalty for the charge is five years in prison.

Though his name was not officially confirmed, the soldier’s mother told the ABC TV network that her 35-year-old son had been visiting his girlfriend in Russia at the time of his arrest.

Melody Jones said Black was on a two-week leave from his base in South Korea when he traveled to Russia. She said he was pulled aside as he arrived at the Vladivostok airport and questioned for nine hours by authorities.

U.S. Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith confirmed that a soldier was detained four days earlier in Vladivostok, a military and commercial port in Russia's Far East, on charges of criminal misconduct.

“The Russian Federation notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations,” Smith said in the statement. “The army notified his family and the U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia."

She gave no further details in the statement due to “the sensitivity of this matter.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if the detained soldier was being considered as absent without leave (AWOL) by the U.S. military.

Officials confirmed that the soldier had been stationed in South Korea -- where the U.S. military has about 28,500 troops based -- and was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos, Texas, but traveled instead to Russia.

“I am deeply concerned by reports that a U.S. Army officer has been detained in Russia. Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage," Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The State Department in September 2023 issued a "Do Not Travel" warning to U.S. citizens in the background of American support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion of that country. The note cited "the singling out of U.S. citizens for detention by Russian government security officials" in its warning.

Asked about the incident, a State Department spokesperson would only confirm that "a U.S. citizen has been detained in Russia."

"We reiterate our strong warnings about the danger posed to U.S. citizens inside the Russian Federation. U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately, as stated in our Travel Advisory for Russia," the spokesperson said.

The latest incident comes less than a year after U.S. soldier Travis King, also stationed in South Korea at the time, slipped into North Korea across the heavily fortified demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.

North Korea later expelled King, who was returned to the United States and eventually charged with desertion.

With reporting by AP