Last week, an American soldier was reportedly apprehended in Russia, the Army and National Security Council confirmed on Monday.
Smith stated that the State Department was informed of the illicit detention by the Russian Federation, and the Army subsequently informed the soldier’s family.
They forwarded additional inquiries regarding the person’s employment status to the Pentagon.
John Kirby, the national security communications adviser for the White House, informed reporters on Monday that the White House is cognizant of the soldier’s detention.
NBC initially reported that a service member stationed in South Korea who was detained on May 2 in Vladivostok, a port city near the borders of China and North Korea, had traveled to Russia voluntarily and was not on official business.
A woman has accused the soldier of theft, according to four U.S. officials who spoke to the news source.
A spokesperson for the NSC stated that the United States reaffirms its stern warnings that American citizens should not travel to Russia at this time and that it takes its commitment to aiding American citizens abroad very seriously.
It was determined that the detained service member was Army Staff Sergeant Gordon D. Black.
The Kremlin maintains that those it has arrested have violated the law, whereas the United States asserts that Russia is using American citizens as political leverage.
Evan Gershkovich, a 32-year-old correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, is among the Americans who have been detained by Russia for the past year.
He is incarcerated in a Moscow prison pending trial on accusations of espionage.
Additionally, former Marine Paul Whelan, who was apprehended in Moscow in 2018 while attending a friend’s wedding, is accused of espionage.
In 2020, he received a 16-year prison sentence; however, he has maintained that the charges brought against him were false.
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