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A Russian court has reduced the prison sentence of a US soldier who was convicted last year of theft and making threats of murder, state media reported on Monday, in the latest signal of thawing relations between Washington and Moscow.
US Staff Sergeant Gordon Black was sentenced by a court in the port city of Vladivostok in June 2024 to three years and nine months in jail. An appeals court cut that sentence to three years and two months, according to Russia's RIA and Tass state news agencies.
The 34-year-old flew to Vladivostok in April 2024 to see his girlfriend, Alexandra Vashchuk, whom he had met while in South Korea. Black was arrested on 2 May after Vashchuk accused him of stealing from her and threatening to kill her.
At his trial in June last year, he pleaded not guilty to making death threats but admitted he was partially guilty of taking the money, albeit out of necessity.
The reduced sentencing comes amid signs of improving US-Russia ties, as US President Donald Trump seeks a rapprochement with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to end Moscow's all-out war in Ukraine.
Last week, Putin's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev met with US officials in Washington. Dmitriev was granted a sanctions waiver to enable the visit, which was reportedly the first time in years that a senior Russian official had travelled to the US for such talks.
A day before those talks, Trump announced sweeping tariffs on 185 countries and territories, but Russia was not included on the list.
Russia was not targeted due to talks with Moscow over a peace deal in Ukraine, the head of the White House National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, told ABC last week.
Washington said Russia was not hit by the latest tariffs because sanctions over the war in Ukraine "preclude any meaningful trade". Belarus, Cuba and North Korea — some of the world's most heavily sanctioned nations — were also omitted from the list.
US trade with Russia amounted to $3.5 billion (€3.2 billion) in 2024, down from around $36 billion (€32.8 billion) in 2021, according to data from the US Census Bureau.
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In February, Russia freed a US citizen, Kalob Byers, who had been arrested on drug smuggling charges after customs officials at Moscow's Vnukovo airport allegedly found cannabis-laced marmalade in his baggage.
The 28-year-old was released days before US and Russia officials met for talks in Saudi Arabia about improving diplomatic ties and ending the war in Ukraine. At the time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said indirectly that the release of Byers could be viewed in the context of "restoring the entire complex of Russian-US relations."
Russia jailed a number of US citizens during the administration of former US President Joe Biden. Some of them — like corporate security executive Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and teacher Marc Fogel — were designated by the US government as wrongfully detained and released in prisoner swaps.
Several others remain imprisoned in Russia, including dual national Ksenia Karelina, retired teacher Stephen Hubbard and musician Travis Leake.
