The wife of US soldier Gordon Black, detained for robbery in Russia, said he traveled there because he was having an affair and was not involved in “geopolitical machinations”.
Megan Black is preparing to divorce her husband, and through a statement by her lawyer, Brett Pritchard, she called on the Russian authorities to release him to provide comfort to their 6-year-old daughter.
She said she was unaware of his trip to Vladivostok in eastern Russia until an official in the Army’s investigative branch called her and asked for information about what was initially a missing person’s investigation, and she only learned of the details of the trip after NBC News broke the story. Because he was detained on Monday.
“However, Megan Black firmly believes that Mr. Black’s decision to travel to Russia, while ill-advised, was motivated by entirely personal reasons related to an extramarital affair,” her lawyer said in a statement Thursday.
“Ms. Black desires that her husband receive a prompt and fair resolution of his current legal situation and be able to secure his release in Homer as soon as possible,” the statement continued, adding that the situation had created “significant distress.” To the daughter of the separated couple.
The statement explained that Megan Black began divorce proceedings in July 2022. The couple had been together for nine years and had known each other since 2014 and married in Belton, Texas, north of Austin, after Black was stationed at nearby Fort Cavazos.
The lawyer’s statement said Black’s detention in Russia put the divorce proceedings, including matters related to property ownership, in “limbo” in a Texas family law court.
On Wednesday, Black’s mother, Melody Jones, told NBC News that she believes her son was set up and “lured” to Russia from where he was stationed in South Korea by a woman named Alexandra Vashuk.
“They have a 6-and-a-half-year-old daughter,” she said. “And she misses her father.”
Black was accused of robbing a Russian citizen, causing him “serious harm.” A court in Vladivostok said this week that he would spend at least two months in pretrial detention.
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s office in Vladivostok also said Black’s arrest had nothing to do with politics or espionage.
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