Russian police arrested a US soldier last week and put him in custody until July 2 on charges of “theft”, the Vladivostok court in charge of the case announced.
Court spokeswoman Elena Oleneva told” RIA Novosti” news agency: “The Pervomaiski District Court in Vladivostok detained American soldier Gordon Black until the second of July under the article on theft.”
US Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said: “The Russian Federation has notified the U.S. Department of State of the criminal detention in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the military has informed his family. The U.S. Department of State provides appropriate consular support to a soldier in Russia, and given the sensitivity of this matter, we cannot provide additional details at this time.”
A U.S. State Department official confirmed that the soldier, a first sergeant, was part of U.S. forces in South Korea and traveled to Russia of his own volition.
In turn, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, in press statements, “I do not have real information about the American soldier, but he will be held responsible for any violation of Russian laws, if the man has problems with our laws, he should be prosecuted if not, he will not have any problems here at all.”
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