The wife of the Italian frigate captain who was arrested Wednesday in Rome for selling confidential documents to a Russian military officer in exchange for money, came out on Thursday to defend her husband's actions saying he did it to support his family.
The arrest of Walter Biot, 56, late Tuesday in a parking lot, unleashed a diplomatic scuffle between Italy and Russia.
Italy swiftly expelled two Russian officials on Wednesday while Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio summoned Russian ambassador Sergey Razov to lodge a formal protest.
"He's not stupid, he's not irresponsible. It's just that he was desperate," Biot's wife, Claudia Carbonara, told La Corriere della Sera daily. "Desperate for our future and that of the children."
Biot's salary of 3,000 euros a month ($3,500) was insufficient to support his family of four children, one of them with a serious handicap, and four dogs, Carbonara told the paper.
A 1,200-euro mortgage, school costs and activity fees for the children all pushed the navy veteran of 30 years to hand over secret documents to the Russian in exchange for 5,000 euros, she said.
"Because of Covid we've become impoverished," said Carbonara, a sex therapist, adding that her husband had not discussed with her beforehand what he planned to do.
Since 2015, Biot has worked in the office of the Chief of the Defense Staff, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He is accused of taking pictures of secret documents on his computer screen and passing the files onto a pen drive, which police confiscated.
Police said the arrest followed lengthy investigations by Italy's domestic intelligence agency AISI, with support from the Chief of the Defense Staff.
On Wednesday, Di Maio told parliament that Russia's move was a "hostile act that will have consequences."
A Kremlin spokesperson said Wednesday he hoped the incident would not affect "the very positive and constructive nature" of relations between the two countries.
The Russian embassy in Rome also on Wednesday expressed "regret" for the expulsion of two members of its military attache office.
