Wife of U.S. soldier detained in Russia says he was having an affair, not involved in 'geopolitical intrigue'
Megan Black said her husband's trip to Russia was "ill-advised" but simply part of an extramarital affair. Black's mother said she thought he had been set up by his girlfriend.
The wife of Gordon Black, the American soldier detained on theft charges in Russia, said he traveled there because he was having an affair and was not involved in "geopolitical intrigue."
Megan Black is in the process of divorcing her husband and called on Russian authorities through a statement from her attorney, Brett Pritchard, to release him to provide comfort to their 6-year-old daughter.
She said she had no knowledge of his trip to Vladivostok in eastern Russia until an Army investigation branch official contacted her asking for information on what was at first a missing person inquiry, and only learned about the details of the trip after NBC News broke the story of his detention Monday.
"Nevertheless, Megan Black firmly believes that Mr. Black's decision to travel to Russia, while ill-advised, was motivated by entirely personal reasons involving an extra-marital affair," her lawyer said in the statement Thursday.
Seems worth noting he's not being charged with anything spying or geopolitics related, but instead he's been charged with theft. No details in the article about what he's accused of having stolen. Seems like almost the only notable fact in this whole story is his being a US soldier in Russia, otherwise there's a ton of Americans accused of pretty crimes while abroad every day.
I suspect it's about to become another american-held-hostage thing; like with Greiner.
I hope they don't exchange a high profile arms dealer for this one.
do we have another high profile arms dealer?
I hope we don't trade one either. Or something as bad.
If he actually committed theft in Russia then that's hilarious. But this could easily be Russia playing it low key until they need a US spy headline for domestic consumption.