Russian court jails U.S. soldier for 3 years, 9 months over domestic incident

June 19 (UPI) -- A U.S. Army sergeant was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison by a court in Russia's Far East on Wednesday after being convicted of threatening to kill his girlfriend and theft of $118.

The court in the Pervomaisky district of Vladivostok also ordered Staff Sgt. Gordon Black to pay $118 compensation to the unnamed victim, reported Russia's state-run Tass news agency which had a reporter at the sentencing hearing.

Black's jail term, to be served in a "general regime correctional colony," runs from the date it "enters legal force" which may refer to a stay to allow any appeals process to run or that time spent in custody since he was arrested in a hotel room in Vladivostok in May will not be deducted.

The 34-year-old, who travelled to Russia from South Korea while in the process of being redeployed from Camp Humphreys where he was serving with the Eighth Army to his next posting at Fort Cavazos, Texas, denied making murder threats.

However, he admitted partial responsibility for stealing cash from the woman but told the court that he transferred $125 back to her the following day and that the woman was due to receive a $118 security deposit for the apartment which he was paying the rent.

He is set to appeal the conviction.

Black is alleged to have grabbed the woman by the neck during a quarrel and then fled with the money taken from the victim's wallet which he used for various expenses, including paying for the hotel room where he was detained.

Neither the military or the U.S. Department of Defense granted official authorization for Black, who previously served in Iraq and Afghanistan, to travel to Russia, according to the U.S. Army, but there was no evidence he planned to stay there.

The United States said at the time of his arrest that it was "aware of this case and other matters related to Russia," with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby telling reporters the U.S. government was unable to "say much about it right now."

Black's conviction comes at a time of increasingly strained U.S.-Russia relations over the detention and prosecution of a number of U.S. citizens, charges against at least two of whom Washington regards as trumped-up, and amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and heightened geopolitical rivalry.