Russia frees ailing ex-US Marine from detention
Russia freed a former American Marine jailed there since 2022, US President Donald Trump said, as the man returned to the United States to be greeted with hamburgers and milkshakes.
On Friday, Russia released Robert Gilman, a 32-year-old former American Marine who had been detained there since January 2022. US President Donald Trump announced the news on social media, stating that the release was granted for humanitarian reasons following discussions with President Vladimir Putin. Gilman returned to the United States, greeted at Dulles International Airport by a US State Department plane carrying him and hamburgers and milkshakes provided by US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
US officials praised Putin for his personal engagement in securing Gilman's release, which did not involve any concessions from Russia. Gilman, serving in the US Marines from 2019 to 2020, had been arrested in Voronezh, Russia, for allegedly kicking a police officer while drunk, though his family later stated he had fallen ill and accidentally struck the officer.
He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison and was moved to a psychiatric ward in June, reportedly in a dissociative stupor. He is now scheduled to receive medical treatment at a rehabilitation center in San Antonio, Texas.
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