A Russian court has sentenced a U.S. soldier to three years and nine months in prison on charges of theft and threatening to kill his girlfriend, according to state news agencies.
Staff Sgt. Gordon Black was sentenced by a court in Vladivostok in Russia’s far east and will serve his time in a penal colony.
Sgt. Black, who was arrested in May, pleaded not guilty to the murder threat charges but admitted he was “partially” guilty of stealing 10,000 roubles ($116; £89) from her.
He will appeal the verdict, state news agencies said.
Prosecutors had called for a sentence of four years and eight months, while his defense sought an acquittal.
U.S. officials said Sgt. Black, 34, met his girlfriend in South Korea.
He enlisted as an infantryman in 2008 and was deployed to Iraq in 2009 and Afghanistan in 2013. Most recently, he was assigned to the Eighth Army, U.S. Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys.
The U.S. Army stated that Sgt. Black did not request official clearance, and the Department of Defense did not authorize his travel to Russia or China, where he had traveled first on his way back from South Korea. There is no evidence he intended to remain in Russia.
Russia is holding other Americans behind bars. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been in jail since March 2023, while former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American editor for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has been held since October and could face up to 10 years in prison on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army.
A court on Tuesday refused to release Ms. Kurmasheva from jail before her trial.
All three individuals maintain their innocence, and the U.S. government says the charges against them are baseless.