The mother of captured US soldier Gordon Black said her friend “lured” him to Russia

The mother of an American soldier detained by Russia said Wednesday that her son was “lured” by a Russian woman he had been seeing in South Korea for more than a year, and that he was being held on trumped-up charges of stealing nearly $100 from South Korea. Ha.

Melody Jones said she believes her son, Sgt. Gordon Black was created by his girlfriend, whom she knew as Alexandra Vashuk.

“I think she convinced him to come over there,” Jones said in a video interview from her home in Cheyenne, Wyoming. “He wanted to see her one last time before going home, so he went there.”

The Russians arrested Black, 34, on charges of theft last week after he traveled from the military base in South Korea, where he was stationed, to the city of Vladivostok in the far east of Russia.

A Defense Ministry spokesman said Tuesday that the military was investigating whether Russian intelligence services specifically targeted black people.

“An administrative investigation is underway to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding his travel,” Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The Army said Black was an experienced soldier with 16 years of service and was supposed to travel to Fort Cavazos, Texas, to begin a new assignment.

When asked why Black would risk traveling to a country where other Americans are being held against their will, Jones answered with one word.

“She,” she said. “He met her at the bar she worked at, and they were together, on and off, for about a year and a half. I’d never met her in person, but I talked to her on Messenger. My motherly instincts told me there was something wrong with her.”

Jones said her son, who is in the midst of a divorce, is a “good boy with a sweet, crooked smile.”

“He was a good soldier too,” she said, and spoke Russian fluently.

She said Vashuk had some kind of control over him.

“I was talking about this with my husband, and we don’t know what it is,” Jones said. “Why are you holding on to him?”

Tuesday, Radio Free Europe She found what she says is a TikTok account of a woman who posted several videos of what appears to be herself with black people in South Korea in 2022 and 2023. The woman in the videos said she had lived in South Korea for five years.

That woman looked like Vaschuk, Jones said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s office in Vladivostok said Black’s arrest had nothing to do with politics or espionage.

Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said earlier Tuesday that Black did not have permission from the Department of Defense to visit Russia, and there was no indication that he intended to stay there.

Megan Black’s lawyer said in a statement Thursday that she and Black are in the process of divorcing.

It “firmly believes that Mr. Black’s decision to travel to Russia, although ill-advised, was motivated by purely personal reasons relating to an extramarital affair between him and a Russian national and that Mr. Black is not involved in any form of geopolitical involvement.” “Conspiracy,” said attorney Brett Pritchard.

Megan Black hopes that “her husband will receive a prompt and fair resolution to his current legal situation, and that he will be able to secure his release in his home country as soon as possible,” according to the statement. He said.

“Instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea, via China, to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons,” Smith said in a statement.

When Black arrived in Vladivostok, he was accused of “secretly stealing property” of a person referred to as “Citizen T” and ordered to be detained until at least July 2, Pervomaisky District Court spokeswoman Elena Oleneva said in a statement on Tuesday.

The court confirmed that Black will be detained for at least two months.

Jones said her son told her that he was wearing civilian clothes when he was taken off the plane and interrogated for several hours.

Black, who grew up in a small town in southern Illinois, joined the Army as an infantryman in 2008. From October 2009 until September 2010, he served in Iraq, Smith said. He also served in Afghanistan from June 2013 until March 2014.

Black was recently assigned to the Eighth Army and is stationed at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, the largest overseas U.S. military installation in the world, Smith said.

On April 10, Black was “cleared of processing” and given two weeks to get to Texas, Smith said.

Current Foreign Office travel guidance advises against all travel to Russia.

Jones said her son told her he planned to stop in Vladivostok before traveling to Texas.

“I was worried about him leaving, because the government there was taking over the Americans,” she said.

Among the captured Americans are Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was imprisoned in March 2023, and former Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018.

“I told him not to go,” Jones said. “I was more worried about him going to Russia than I was when he was in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Jones said her son sent her a text message after his arrest.

“The last thing I got from him was: ‘Don’t worry about me, I’m fine,'” she said.

Jones said her son listed her as his emergency contact, which is why she received a call from the State Department on Thursday saying the Russians had arrested him. She said she had not heard from anyone since then, and she was not sure if his wife had any contact with the military.

“They have a 6 1/2-year-old daughter,” Jones said. “And she misses her father.”

Jones said Black is not her only son. She has two others, plus a daughter. So you won’t be alone on Mother’s Day.

“Gordon would call me at least once a week,” she said. “He usually sends me flowers on Mother’s Day. Last time there were twenty red roses. But I don’t think so this year.”