GI Who Defected Marries W. German

An American army soldier who defected to the Soviet Union to be a snake handler in Turkmenia was married Saturday in Ashkhabad to his West German girlfriend.

The official news agency Tass reported the wedding of Wade E. Roberts, formerly of San Bernardino, Calif., and Petra Neumann, formerly of Giessen, in a dispatch from Ashkhabad. In the past, however, Tass had referred to the couple as man and wife and quoted Neumann as saying she was expecting a baby.

Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov said last March that the couple went to Turkmenia on their honeymoon. They had come to the Soviet Union earlier that month after Roberts left his army unit in West Germany. He faces charges of desertion, but Soviet officials claimed he was persecuted for his political views.

Roberts and Neumann were quoted by Tass as saying after the ceremony that they considered themselves to be the happiest people on Earth.

Officials of the Red Crescent Society, Turkmenia and public organizations congratulated them. Roberts’ co-workers at the Turkmenian Agricultural Institute also appeared in large numbers.

Tass said Roberts conducts research work in the serpentarium at the institute. Neumann, who said she was a nurse in West Germany and wanted to study pediatrics, was admitted to the preparatory course of the Ashkhabad Institute of Medicine last May. Now, however, Tass said Neumann is studying fashion design after getting acquainted with Turkmenian fashions.