American military personnel detained by Russian authorities for 8 weeks.
A US soldier identified as Gordon Black will be in Russian custody till 2nd July, as per a court decision in Vladivostok.
Black is being charged with "stealing property of fellow citizen T., causing considerable mental anguish" according to the court statement.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson briefed state media TASS on Tuesday, stating that "the case has no politically or espionage connections".
The ministry added that as far as they know, it's "a domestic crime", thus the office in Vladivostok only observes the citizenship status of the American defendant but not his situation.
Currently, Russia is experiencing diplomatic friction with the US due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Two more Americans are believed to be detained in Russia: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and ex-Marine Paul Whelan, who the US State Department declared wrongfully detained.
Before his arrest, the soldier was stationed in South Korea. When he requested leave to visit Russia for personal reasons, he was not classified as AWOL (absent without leave) by a US official.
In the future, Black was expected to be transferred to Ft. Cavazos in Texas but the timeline for the move isn't clear.
This news story includes inputs by Natasha Bertrand, Oren Liebermann, and Kylie Atwood of CNN.
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Source: edition.cnn.com
