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.

gapedanus,
lennybird,
@lennybird@lemmy.world avatar

Not all the Russian honeypot and money in the world could convince me to step foot in that shithole of a nation.

istanbullu,

That is why most people go to Russia

trebuchet,

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.

FuglyDuck,
@FuglyDuck@lemmy.world avatar

I suspect it’s about to become another american-held-hostage thing; like with Greiner.

jonne,

I hope they don’t exchange a high profile arms dealer for this one.

FuglyDuck,
@FuglyDuck@lemmy.world avatar

do we have another high profile arms dealer?

I hope we don’t trade one either. Or something as bad.

Maggoty,

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.

echodot,

Yeah, well we’ve all been there. Who among us can resist the international femme fatale of a hostile nation state?

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

You gotta hand it to her. She has the opportunity to help throw him under a bus, and she was the bigger person.

kamenlady,
@kamenlady@lemmy.world avatar

Also thinking about her daughter’s well-being in all this - all in all not your average kind of person.

Pretzilla,

Well, she said ‘comfort’ and sure, but it’s also support, as in child support

HessiaNerd,

I’m not 100% but I’m pretty sure the army will make sure the kid is taken care of regardless. They don’t allow deadbeat dads.

quindraco,

They don’t even take care of veterans properly, I doubt they’ll take care of the kid.

SkyezOpen,

Well he’s still technically in the army so he should get paid, and seeing as he’s indisposed at the moment, no reason why it shouldn’t go to her. Unless he took her off his beneficiary list, though I doubt he did.

HessiaNerd,

moore.army.mil/…/AR 608-99 Family Support.pdf

I think child support is already being paid as soon as she said she is going to divorce him. It doesn’t require him to agree. The military will just garnish his wages.

I think he may be technically AWOL, which probably complicates things… Not sure how that would work.

Zahille7,

Lol what are you talking about?

HessiaNerd,

They will garnish your wages. As a service member you don’t have the same rights in court. If parentage is established, the military just starts sending a chunk of your paycheck to the custodial parent.

Zahille7,

That doesn’t mean Jack to a lot of deadbeats. Hence the name “deadbeat”

HessiaNerd,

Do you know what it is to garnish wages? They just cut a check to the custodial parent. The would be deadbeat grunt just doesn’t get his money to make payments on a jixer or Camero or whatever.

shani66,

That seems like an even dumber reason to waltz into Russia.

echodot,

Perhaps none of the women in any other nationality were interested in him.

vanontom,
@vanontom@lemmy.world avatar

Aw. And neither was this “woman”, who it seems was just Russian ops trying to lure another dumb American hostage.

someguy3,

“Send him back so I can kill him myself”?

ptz,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

Is there a Wikipedia list of international incidents caused by inability to keep it in your pants? If not, there should be.

UndercoverUlrikHD,

Check the history section

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexpionage

ptz,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

TIL. Looks like a good read. Thanks!

AbidanYre,
Vilian,

LMAO before reading the article i thought it was because french was less horny idk, but no, it’s the complete opposite

CptEnder,

French wife: oh perfect, can he keep bustin in you for a couple more days? I got a young roofer coming over to lay some brick.

OfficerBribe,

It also did not work on Indonesian president.

NoIWontPickAName,
Fuckfuckmyfuckingass,
@Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world avatar

Bravo.

ptz,
@ptz@dubvee.org avatar

lol, right?

echodot,

Seems like a broad topic.

TheRealKuni,

broad topic

I see what you did there.

remotelove,

That’s because humans like to fuck.

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