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.
"It is Mrs. Black's desire that her husband obtains a prompt and fair resolution to his current legal situation and is able to secure his release back homer as soon as possible," the statement continued, adding that the situation had created "substantial distress" for the estranged couple's daughter.
The statement explained that Megan Black began divorce proceedings in July 2022. The couple were together for nine years and had known each other since 2014 and were married in Belton, Texas, north of Austin, after Black was stationed at the nearby Fort Cavazos.
The attorney's statement said Black's detention in Russia had placed the divorce proceedings, including questions over property ownership, in "limbo" in a family law court in Texas.
On Wednesday, Black's mother, Melody Jones, told NBC News that she thought her son was set up and "lured" to Russia from where he was stationed in South Korea by a woman she named as Aleksandra Vashchuk.
"They have a 6½-year-old daughter," she said. "And she misses her daddy."
Black has been charged with stealing from a Russian citizen, causing them "serious damage." He will spend at least two months in pretrial detention, a court in Vladivostok said this week.
The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry office in Vladivostok has also said Black’s detention had nothing to do with politics or espionage.
