Black’s conviction has presented another challenge for U.S. authorities already working to gain the release of several Americans in Russian jails on what the White House says are spurious charges.
Does it? He isn’t a political prisoner. It sounds like he’s a horny, apparently violent dumbass who secretly went to Russia against military rules (and common sense) and then did crimes.
The “did crimes” is on russians word, so worth basically nothing. Even guilty pleas tend to come from torture, not guilt.
The rest seems pretty accurate.
Current Sympathy level: Otto Warmbier.
(Dumbass, fucked around on dangerous soil, found out.)
Damn we’ll see him on the front in a few weeks
It didn’t end well for another idiot: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Bentley
That dipshit went to fight for the conservative Russians who eventually mistook him for a spy and tortured him to death. Goddamn. What a story.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
MOSCOW — A Russian court has sentenced a United States soldier to nearly four years in prison on charges of theft and threatening to murder, the latest in a series of arrested American citizens in Russia amid simmering tensions over Ukraine and other issues.
Without informing superiors, Black traveled to Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, entering via China, to see his Russian girlfriend with whom he had started a relationship during his posting overseas.
Last month, Vashchuk filed a police report that accused Black of stealing 10,000 rubles — just over a hundred dollars — from her purse and attempting to choke her after the couple had an argument.
Black’s conviction has presented another challenge for U.S. authorities already working to gain the release of several Americans in Russian jails on what the White House says are spurious charges.
The White House says it has made substantial offers aimed at gaining the release of Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a former Marine who was sentenced to 16 years on espionage charges in 2018.
In recent years, the Biden administration has also cut deals with Moscow to secure the release of WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner and former Marine Trevor Reed from Russian prisons.
The original article contains 631 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Removed by mod
Prisoner exchanges shouldn’t be a thing outside of war. Also, don’t go to shitholes. If you travel to Russia, Iran, China, North Korea etc. it’s all on you if you get stuck there.
