WASHINGTON – Months before his arrest in Russia, U.S. Army soldier Gordon Black made a surprise video call to his 6-year-old daughter in Texas from South Korea, where he was traveling overseas.
But instead of a normal conversation, his daughter and wife witnessed a bloody fight break out between Black and his Russian girlfriend, which turned bloody, his wife Megan said. The screams turned violent and his girlfriend scratched him in the face. Then she pulled out a knife.
“She stabbed him,” Megan Black told Reuters in an exclusive interview, adding that Black “had blood on her face.” Her daughter was distraught.
Black could not be reached for comment on the video call. The Army did not respond to requests for comment on his case. Reuters was unable to reach Black through the State Department.
According to Russian authorities, Mr. Black, a U.S. Army sergeant stationed at Camp Humphreys on the outskirts of Seoul, was arrested on May 2 in Vladivostok, a city in Russia's far east, and held in pre-trial confinement on charges of theft after an argument. It is said that there is.
His mother, Melody Jones, told Reuters that he followed his girlfriend to Russia, although they were “like dogs and monkeys”.
“I told them both, 'We don't need to be together,' one of us is going to get hurt,” Jones said. “Because if you're going to fight, that's not enough.”
Black's arrest comes after the U.S. is already dealing with several high-profile detention cases in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. It's a new headache for officials.
Black, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, broke military regulations by traveling to Russia without military permission and arrived there via China, the Pentagon said.
Neither Russian authorities nor the Pentagon nor Mr. Black's wife or mother have indicated any concerns of espionage. Russia's Foreign Ministry said there was no political element to the incident.
“Pull out your teeth”
In her only interview, Megan Black became emotional as she talked about her life with her husband, explaining that they were finalizing their divorce when Black was arrested.
Her attorney, Jeff Linick, said Black's wife never received any military housing benefits from her husband. Linick said that even though the couple is separated, she and her daughter are entitled to support under military regulations.
Megan Black is caring for her daughter, but her husband has refused to pay court-ordered child support, Linick said. It wasn't until she went to her military and their attorney that they recently began deducting a portion of child support from his paycheck, he said.
“It was really a lot of grinding…to finally get the military to withhold some of his child support payments against his wishes, it was essentially blackmailing law enforcement. '' Linnick said.
The Army did not respond to requests for comment about the aid money, and Black could not be reached for comment. Linick said Gordon Black represented him in his divorce in Texas.
Megan Black said she met her husband in 2014 at a bar near the Fort Cavazos base in Killeen, Texas. The two hit it off right away, and she remembered how charming and receptive he was to her despite her speech impediment.
“He was nice to me at one point,” she said.
Things started to deteriorate around 2018, and Gordon Black began divorce proceedings soon after leaving the country for South Korea.
confusion
Megan Black said she first learned about her Russian girlfriend around January 2022 when she saw a photo of them together on Facebook. Black said her girlfriend called him “husband.”
Jones said he believed his Russian girlfriend had been “sent back” to Russia from South Korea, perhaps due to problems with the paperwork. She had warned her son not to follow her there.
“I tried to tell him not to go,” she said.
Megan Black said she and her daughter didn't know he was in Russia, but they were waiting for him in Texas because he had just finished a tour in South Korea.
On May 2, the day Russian authorities announced he had been arrested at a local hotel, Megan Black said she received a message from him saying he was “not coming home.”
That was the last she heard from him.
She said the incident tarnished her daughter's image of her father.
“She now sees her father as the bad guy,” she says.
Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali.Editing: Don Durfee and Jerry Doyle
