That’s the story he tells, at least. He just so happened to fly to Moscow alongside a Kremlin intelligence asset the day after his US passport was revoked and then, oopsie, he had to stay there; never you mind that there were direct flights from Hong Kong to Ecuador, he had to go through Moscow to get there because… reasons.
He was headed from Hong Kong to Latin America with a connecting flight in Russia when the US cancelled his passport.
The fact he was stuck in Russia was entirely incidental
That’s the story he tells, at least. He just so happened to fly to Moscow alongside a Kremlin intelligence asset the day after his US passport was revoked and then, oopsie, he had to stay there; never you mind that there were direct flights from Hong Kong to Ecuador, he had to go through Moscow to get there because… reasons.
citation needed