The Army has stopped paying wages and allowances to a U.S. soldier sentenced last month to nearly four years in a Russian penal colony and may prosecute him if he returns to the United States, U.S. officials said.
Gordon Black, a 34-year-old staff sergeant, was convicted in Russia of theft and threatening murder. But he broke a series of Army rules first, traveling to Russia without U.S. military authorization, and flying through China to get there.
He was also having an extramarital affair - prohibited in the U.S. military - with a Russian woman named Alexandra Vashchuk, who he met during a deployment in South Korea. During leave from the military, Black followed her to Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok, where she reported him to the police after an argument.
A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, drew a comparison to the case of U.S. Army Private Travis King, who last year ran into North Korea and was taken into custody there. Once the United States secured his release, King was charged in October by the Army with crimes including desertion.
The U.S. military is not providing Black with any special military counsel, the Army has said.
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Should the U.S. Army continue to pay a soldier imprisoned in a foreign country for personal actions that violated military rules?
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Does being a soldier exempt an individual from the laws and consequences of foreign countries they travel to without authorization?
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Is it fair for the military to possibly prosecute a soldier after they've already been punished by a foreign justice system?
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Should personal relationships that violate military rules impact the level of support a soldier receives when imprisoned abroad?
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How does the responsibility of the U.S. military to its soldiers change when those soldiers act independently and against orders?