U.S. soldier charged with theft in Russia as TikTok videos shed light on relationship with Russian woman

An American soldier who was detained in eastern Russia while visiting a woman he was romantically involved with has been charged with “theft with major damage,” state media reported Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was arrested in the city of Vladivostok last week after leaving his posting in South Korea. He was supposed to travel to Fort Cavazos, Texas, to begin a new assignment, but opted to travel to Russia instead, the U.S. Army said.

Details of the Russian criminal case are scant, but state-run news agency Ria Novosti reported that Black had been charged, citing the Pervomaisky District Court of Vladivostok. He faces two months in pre-trial detention.

Black is “accused of secretly stealing the property of a citizen T., causing the latter significant damage,” the court said, Ria Novosti said.

The confirmation of the charge came as pictures emerged on social media that appeared to give some details on the relationship between Black and a Russian woman

Radio Free Europe found what it says is the Tiktok account of a woman who posted several videos of her apparently with Black in South Korea in 2022 and 2023. The woman said in the videos that she lived in South Korea for five years.

In one video the woman invited Black to comment on U.S.-Russia relations. He said NATO had been “pretty aggressive” and that relations between the two nations were better under former President Donald Trump.

“I understand Russia’s position, they want to defend their country,” he said.

Black's mother, Melody Jones, told CBS News on Monday that her son had traveled to Russia to visit his girlfriend.

The U.S. Army is investigating whether Black was lured to Vladivostok by Russian intelligence services, a Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday.

Asked about this possibility, Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said: “This is something that the Army is looking into.”

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the detention had nothing to do with politics, state news agency TASS reported.

Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith said separately on Tuesday that Black did not have clearance to visit Russia. Black enlisted as an infantryman in 2008 and has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, she said.

In a separate interview, Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary at the Pentagon said the Army was “looking into” whether Black had been targeted by Russian intelligence.