Brian McDonald
Moscow – A Moscow court said Tuesday it sentenced a US citizen to 10 days’ detention for petty vandalism after he entered a children’s library drunk and passed out. News of the American’s arrest came just hours after Russian and American authorities said a US soldier was in custody in the far eastern city of Vladivostok on suspicion of robbery in a separate case.
Russia’s REN TV said the man detained in Moscow climbed out the window of a children’s library in the Russian capital and fell asleep drunk. The video broadcast by the station showed a person, partially dressed, lying in what appeared to be a courtyard of the building.
He said the man was staying with friends in Moscow on a tourist visa and ended up at the library after hanging out with friends at a bar.
In a statement published on its official channel on the Telegram messaging app, Moscow’s Khoroshevsky District Court said the man, identified as Nikum William Russell, was sentenced to 10 days under “administrative arrest” on charges of petty vandalism after “drinking alcoholic beverages, he was then found in the courtyard, naked, showing clear disrespect for society, citizens and public order.”
There was no immediate confirmation of the arrest from US authorities.
US soldier arrested, accused of robbery
News of the American’s arrest came just hours after Russian and American authorities said a US soldier was in custody in the far eastern city of Vladivostok on suspicion of robbery. The US Army said the soldier, identified by a court in Vladivostok and US authorities to CBS News as Gordon Black, was being held on criminal charges.
A U.S. Army sergeant stationed in South Korea has been accused of robbing a woman, two Pentagon officials told CBS News on Monday, confirming information provided by Russian authorities.
Black was in the process of moving duty station from Korea to Fort Cavazos (Ft. Hood) in the U.S. and was not in Russia on an official military trip, U.S. authorities told CBS News.
The soldier’s mother, Melody Jones, said he was in Russia visiting his girlfriend.
“Please don’t torture him [or] hurt him,” she said when asked about her message to the Russians.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday that the U.S. was “aware of this case and other Russia-related matters” but said he could not “say much about it at this time.” ”. NBC News first reported that a soldier was detained in Russia over the weekend.
Police in the city of Vladivostok said they had arrested a 34-year-old foreigner and opened a criminal case for robbery that caused significant harm to the victim, punishable by up to five years in prison. The suspect is being held in a pre-trial detention center in the city, police said.
The force said the man began a relationship with a Russian woman while she was working in South Korea. They kept in touch online and he came to visit her on April 10. The couple had a “conflict” and the man left, according to police.
The woman later discovered the money was missing and called police, who located the man at a hotel as he prepared to fly to the U.S., police said. Russian newspaper Izvestia previously reported, citing a source, that the man stole 200,000 rubles ($2,200) and beat the woman.
Russia denies any connection with “politics or espionage”
A Russian Foreign Ministry representative in Vladivostok told state news agency TASS that the case was not linked to politics.
“This case is not related to politics or espionage. From what we understand, this is a purely domestic crime. Therefore, the Foreign Ministry branch in Vladivostok is not closely following the fate of the American citizen.”
Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, representing Texas, said in a statement published on X that he was “deeply concerned about reports that a U.S. Army officer has been detained in Russia.”
“Putin has a long history of holding American citizens hostage,” he said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding: “A warning to all Americans – as the State Department has said, it is not safe to travel to Russia.”
Russian authorities have arrested several US citizens in recent years. Critics accuse Moscow of using detainees as bargaining chips to exchange for Russians imprisoned in the US
Paulo Whelan, a former US Marine, has been imprisoned in Russia since 2018 on espionage charges that the US government and his family insist are a baseless pretext to keep him incarcerated. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 on espionage charges, which the US, his family and his employer insist are unfounded. He is awaiting trial.
The State Department said in December that Russia rejected a “significant” proposal for the liberation of both men.
