US soldier Gordon Black got into a bloody fight with his Russian girlfriend months before his arrest in Russia

A US soldier arrested in Russia more than a week ago was stabbed by his Russian girlfriend during a fight that took place in front of his ex and his young daughter on a video call months before his arrest , according to a report.

Private Gordon Black made a surprise video call to his soon-to-be ex-wife Megan Black and their 6-year-old child, who lives in Texas, during his overseas tour in South Korea, when the call went is transformed into a bloody nightmare. .

The mother and daughter saw Black get into a shouting match with his Russian girlfriend before the woman scratched his face then showed him a knife, Megan told Reuters on Sunday.

“She stabbed him,” she said in an interview with the news agency.

She added that her 34-year-old husband “had blood on his face” as her distraught daughter looked on.

Although Reuters did not name the girlfriend, previous reports indicated that Black was in a relationship with a Russian woman named Aleksandra Vashchuk.

The bloody brawl occurred months before Black, a staff sergeant, was arrested on theft charges after an argument in Vladivostok, in far eastern Russia, on May 2, authorities said Russians.

Black – who was stationed at Camp Humphreys outside Seoul but was in Russia on personal business – is being held on remand. He broke Army rules by traveling to Russia without the military’s approval, the Pentagon said.

His mother, Melody Jones, previously told NBC News that she believed Black “was lured” to Russia by Vashchuk and then trapped by her. She believes he was arrested on false accusations of stealing about $100 from her.

Jones also told Reuters that the two men fought “like cats and dogs.” She said her girlfriend had been “sent back” to Russia from South Korea, possibly because of red tape.

“I told them both: You don’t need to be together. One of you is going to get hurt one of these days,” Jones reportedly said.

Megan and her jailed husband were about to finalize their divorce when he was arrested.

The two initially hit it off in 2014 after meeting in a bar, but years later the relationship fell apart starting in 2018, she told Reuters. Gordon Black filed for divorce shortly after leaving for South Korea.

Megan said she first became aware of the Russian girlfriend in January 2022 when she saw photos of the couple on Facebook, with the girlfriend calling him “her husband”.

She and her daughter did not know he was in Russia before his arrest and thought he was returning to Texas because his tour of South Korea had just ended.

But on the day of his arrest, he sent her a message “telling me he wasn’t coming home.”

Megan struggled to receive child support until the military stepped in and began withholding part of her pay for child support, her lawyer Jeff Linick told Reuters.

Gordon Black could not be reached by Reuters for comment and could not be reached through the State Department. The military also did not respond to a Reuters request for comment for this story.

The Post also sought comment from the Army on the allegations.

Black’s arrest comes as the United States works to free Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March 2023, as well as former Marine Paul Whelan, detained since 2018.

With post wires.