An American soldier who was detained in Russia last week on suspicion of robbery did not receive permission from the Department of Defense to travel to the country.
American army Sergeant Gordon D. Black, 35, was arrested in Vladivostok, near the Russian-North Korean border, on May 2 after allegedly robbing a woman, Pentagon officials said.
Initially it was unclear how Black arrived Russia with US authorities investigating how he got there.
Black was parked in South Korea and allegedly did not request official authorization to leave his unit, he said Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith.
His mother, Melody Jones, said her son was on two weeks’ leave to visit his girlfriend.
“I told him I was very uncomfortable,” Jones told ABC News. “I had a bad feeling about him going, but he went anyway.”
Jones said that when his son arrived Russiahe was questioned by authorities for several hours.
“He said yes when he got off the plane, that he was pulled to the back of this room for nine hours and asked why he was there,” she said.
Jones said he didn’t know if Black had a visa to visit Russia.
“I knew something was going to happen,” she said, adding that she was critical of Black’s relationship with his girlfriend.
The two met at a South Korean club more than a year ago, Jones said, however, his girlfriend was deported to Russia after they entered into a dispute in 2023.
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