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Russian court rejects appeal against sentence against imprisoned US soldier

A Russian court on Monday rejected the appeal of a US soldier who was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for alleged death threats and theft.

In June, a court in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok sentenced Gordon Black to three years and nine months in prison. He had been arrested a month earlier while visiting a Russian woman he had met and dated while serving in South Korea.

The woman, identified by Russian media as Alexandra Vashuk, reported Black to police after an argument, saying he physically attacked her and stole around 10,000 rubles ($111).

The American soldier pleaded “partially guilty” to theft and not guilty to threatening to kill Vashuk. He said she started an argument with him after drinking.

Black appealed the verdict, but the Primorsky Regional Court dismissed the appeal on Monday, saying that after examining the case it had decided to “leave the verdict in force.”

Black and Vashuk met on the dating app Tinder in South Korea in October 2022. The couple dated in South Korea before Vashuk invited Black to visit Vladivostok.

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