I feel bad for SSG Black’s family, but as the saying goes play stupid games, win stupid prizes and he got quite the prize:
A court in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok on Wednesday convicted a visiting American soldier of stealing and making threats of murder, and it sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city to see his girlfriend and was arrested last month after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. officials and Russian authorities.
Russia’s state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported that the judge in Pervomaisky District Court in Vladivostok also ordered Black to pay 10,000 rubles ($115) in damages. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of four years and eight months in prison.
Putin must really need the munitions that North Korea produces considering how chummy he is getting with Kim Jong-un:
This Sept. 14, 2023, file image, taken from Korean Central Television footage, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to North Korea this week may produce a treaty on a “comprehensive strategic partnership” in light of changes in geopolitics and bilateral relations, though it will not be aimed against other nations, Russia’s state media has reported.
Citing Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s aide for foreign affairs, TASS reported that Putin is set to visit Pyongyang on Tuesday and Wednesday for a summitry program that he cast as “very eventful” and “very intensive.”
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency also confirmed that Putin will pay a state visit to the North at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. It would mark Putin’s first visit to the North in nearly a quarter of a century.
Here is the latest on the U.S. Army NCO jailed in Russia:
A U.S. soldier, stationed in South Korea but detained in Russia on suspicion of stealing from his girlfriend and threatening to kill her, went on trial on Thursday, the state news agency RIA reported. Gordon Black was detained on May 2 in Vladivostok in Russia’s far east on suspicion of stealing from his Russian girlfriend.
Citing local prosecutors, Russian independent media reported he had also subsequently been charged with threatening to kill her. Black, a U.S. Army staff sergeant posted at Camp Humphreys outside Seoul, pleaded guilty to theft in May, RIA reported at the time, citing interior ministry officials.
Here is also more details on what he is alleged to have done:
Prosecutors said the couple had quarrelled and the American had subsequently “forcibly grabbed the girl by the neck, which she perceived as a real threat to her life.” Black is then alleged to have stolen 10,000 roubles ($110) from her purse and fled their shared apartment, according to media reports. He was later arrested at a local hotel, where he had purchased plane tickets and intended to fly back to the U.S.
You can read more at the link, but the more I read about this case the more likely to me that this was not some kid of honey trap and instead this guy just being an idiot and now facing the consequences of his actions.
It looks like South Korea is back on Putin’s good graces again:
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he highly appreciates South Korea’s position not to directly supply weapons to Ukraine, and that Moscow is ready to restore relations with Seoul.
Putin made the remark during a meeting with representatives of leading international news agencies, including Yonhap News Agency, which was held on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The remark drew attention in that Putin, who began his fifth term as president last month, showed a positive attitude toward South Korea and openly talked about the possibility of improving relations with Seoul.
The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again denied Friday that her country has exported any weapons to Russia, as she labeled outside speculation on North Korea-Russian arms dealings as “the most absurd paradox.” The U.S., South Korea and others have steadfastly accused North Korea of supplying artillery, missiles and other conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for advanced military technologies and economic aid.
Both North Korea and Russia have repeatedly dismissed that. Foreign experts believe North Korea’s recent series of artillery and short-range missile tests were meant to examine or advertise the weapons it was planning to sell to Russia. Kim Yo Jong called outside assessments on the North Korean-Russian dealings “the most absurd paradox which is not worth making any evaluation or interpretation.”
I don’t know why anyone would want to visit North Korea other than for morbid curiosity. Ever dollar spent there is helping to fund the regime:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been briefed on tourist exchanges between Moscow and Pyongyang and preparations for his visit to North Korea are underway, the Kremlin has said.
The Russian news agency TASS on Saturday (local time) quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying, “Preparations for the visit are proceeding at their own pace.”
Putin has not visited North Korea since July 2000.
TASS also reported that Alexander Kozlov, the environment minister for Moscow, who is leading an intergovernmental commission on cooperation with North Korea, touted the growing popularity of tourist exchanges between the two countries during his meeting with Putin earlier Saturday.
In 1950, Kim Il Sung could fight a war as long as Stalin and Mao had his back, and in the end, they kept the war going for their own purposes. Today, I think Xi and Putin are watching Kim at least as closely as the US, ROK and Japan. If necessary, they'll throw him under the bus.
This is an area where South Korea has decided to break away from many western countries and attend Czar President Putin’s inauguration ceremony:
South Korean Ambassador to Russia Lee Do-hoon attended the inauguration ceremony of its leader Vladimir Putin, who began his fifth term as president on Tuesday (local time), Seoul officials said.
Lee’s attendance at the event held at the Kremlin came in contrast to counterparts from South Korea’s ally, the United States, and many Western countries that boycotted the event over its war in Ukraine. European Union nations were also divided over sending delegations to the inauguration, according to news reports.
The decision was made after careful consideration of various pending bilateral issues and the need to manage bilateral relations with Moscow, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
Here is another weird story of a stupid Soldier getting himself in significant trouble:
A U.S. Army staff sergeant who was visiting his girlfriend in Russia was arrested and remains in custody on charges he stole from her, U.S. officials said. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was detained Thursday in Vladivostok, a military and commercial port in the Pacific, and is in a pre-trial detention facility, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said Tuesday in a statement. Black was assigned to Eighth Army, U.S. Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys in South Korea and was scheduled to move to Fort Cavazos, Texas, Smith said. Instead, Black, who is married, traveled to Russia to see a longtime girlfriend, according to officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel details.
His arrest further complicates U.S. relations with Russia, which have grown increasingly tense over the war in Ukraine. “Instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea, through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons,” Smith said. “Black did not request official clearance, and [the Defense Department] did not authorize his travel to China and Russia. There is no evidence Black intended to remain in Russia after his [permanent change of station] leave period ended.”
You can read more at the link, but the Soldier’s mom believes the Russian girlfriend was a spy that lured him to Russia. Here is what else his mom had to say to ABC News:
Upon arrival in Russia, Jones said Black told her he was questioned by authorities at the airport for “nine hours.”
“He said he was when he got off the plane, that he was pulled to the back in this room for nine hours and questioned why he was there,” Jones said.
Jones said she did not know if her son had a visa to visit Russia.
Jones was critical of her son’s girlfriend, whom she says he met at a club in South Korea over a year ago. Jones claims her son told her the girlfriend was deported to Russia from South Korea after she and Black allegedly got into a dispute in the fall of 2023.
“I knew something was going to happen,” Jones said.
Considering they questioned him for nine hours, that leads me to believe the girlfriend was not a spy. Instead Russian intelligence probably could not believe their good fortune and needed nine hours to figure out what to do with him. It looks like SSG Gordon has been lying to his family as well:
“There was some woman involved… He had been seeing her for a good while. Apparently she was living in South Korea until she was deported,” he said. “I have a feeling that she had a lot to do with it,” Jones said, adding that he learned of the arrest last Thursday.
According to Black’s stepfather, Jones had left the U.S. for South Korea two and a half years ago, “and the army kept extending him there. He was only supposed to have been there for a year.”
The Army did not involuntary extend him in South Korea for an additonal 1.5 years. He very likely volunteered to extend so he could spend more time with his Russian girlfriend. Notice he decided to go back to the U.S. after the Russian girlfriend was deported. This is what happened that caused her to get deported once again from The Daily Beast article:
The channel also claims Black has a history of beating Vashchuk, who is said to have called the police on him over an incident in South Korea. He’s charged with “theft causing significant damage to a citizen,” which carries a maximum penalty of five years behind bars.
Unnamed U.S. officials told the AP that Black and his Russian girlfriend had gotten into a “domestic dispute” last fall while they were in South Korea and she left the country shortly after.
The domestic dispute probably caused South Korean authorities to check her immigration status which led to her getting deported is my guess. So this guy gets into a domestic dispute with her that causes her deportation, I doubt she was very happy to see him turn up in Russia looking for her. Anyway this is what the Russian news media has been reporting that SSG Black did that got him arrested:
Russian news Telegram channels including Baza reported that Black had been serving in the South Korean port of Pyeongtaek when he met a Russian woman, who moved back to Vladivostok. Black visited the woman recently, during which time they argued. Gordon is accused of attacking the woman and stealing 200,000 rubles; around $2,200.
Radio Free Europe was able to track down the Russian girlfriend’s TikTok trail to provide further information about her:
U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black (left) and his Russian wife, Aleksandra Vashchuk
RFE/RL found a TikTok account of Black’s romantic partner, Vladivostok native Aleksandra Vashchuk, who posted numerous videos of the couple together in South Korea, including at least one showing Black in his U.S. Army fatigues.
Among the hundreds of often profanity-laced TikTok videos posted by Vashchuk, 31, are several in which she refers to Black as her “husband” and affectionately as “pindos,” a Russian slang word for Americans that roughly translates to “Yankee punk.”
Most of the videos of the couple together in 2022 and 2023 appear to have been shot in South Korea, where Vashchuk says on TikTok that she had lived for more than five years. (…..)
In one of the videos posted to Vashchuk’s TikTok account, which she closed to the public on May 7, Black is seen in his U.S. military fatigues with his name clearly visible on his uniform.
In one video, Vashchuk asks Black to comment on U.S.-Russian relations for her followers. He echoes several talking points frequently used by the Kremlin to justify the February 2022 invasion, calling NATO “pretty aggressive.”
“I understand Russia’s position, obviously. They want to defend their country,” Black says in the video before Vashchuk interjects and says former U.S. President Donald Trump “is better” than current U.S. President Joe Biden.
You can read more at the link to include some of the videos that SSG Black was in. What is unclear is that media has been saying SSG Black is married. His mom claims Vashchuk is a girlfriend. If so then who is he married to? Someone back in the U.S. or is the media referring to his supposed marriage to Vashchuk? Anyway this whole situation is pretty stupid and should serve as warning to others to not travel to Russia.
