William Russell Nykum has been charged with “petty hooliganism” and placed under arrest for ten days following the alleged incident at a Moscow’s children’s library, according to Russian media
An American English-language tutor was reportedly arrested in Moscow on hooliganism charges for breaking into a children’s library while drunk and was sentenced to ten days in jail.
State news agency RIA-Novosti reported William Nycum was found in the library on Friday after breaking a window to gain entry. Nycum was in Russia on a six-month tourist visa, staying with acquaintances and working as an English instructor, the reports said.
A source told local broadcaster Ren TV that Nikum allegedly disappeared after a night out on May 2 claiming he had been kidnapped when he reunited with his friends. The source said: “He got drunk, had a fight with his friends in a bar.
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“He said that he had been kidnapped, but he just left in a taxi. Then he broke the window at the children’s library, climbed inside and fell asleep.”
According to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, CCTV footage captured a partially-naked Nycum allegedly breaking into a children’s library. Local reports said Nykum’s visa permitted him to stay in Rusia for up to six months but it remains unclear when he entered the country, or how his arrest will affect him.
His alleged arrest comes just days after an American solider visiting a girlfriend in Russia’s port city of Vladivostok was arrested on charges of stealing from her and remains in custody, according to several U.S. officials.
U.S. officials said Monday the soldier, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was stationed in South Korea and was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos in Texas. Instead, officials said that Black, who is married, travelled to Russia to see a longtime girlfriend. His arrest only further complicates US relations with Russia, which have grown increasingly tense as the war in Ukraine drags on.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel details. Cynthia Smith, Army spokeswoman, confirmed that a soldier was detained on Thursday in Vladivostok, a major military and commercial Pacific port, on charges of criminal misconduct. She said Russia notified the U.S. and the Army told the soldier’s family.
“The U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia,” Smith said. According to officials, the Russian woman had lived in South Korea, and last fall she and Black got into some type of domestic dispute or altercation. After that, she left South Korea. It isn’t clear if she was forced to leave or what, if any, role Korean authorities had in the matter.
Officials also said that Black, an infantry soldier, did not tell his unit that he was going to Russia, and did not receive any authorization to go there. They said he was essentially on leave, as he left Korea to redeploy back home to Fort Cavazos.
It’s unclear, however, if U.S. service members are specifically prohibited from traveling to Russia, although the State Department strongly advises U.S. citizens not to go.