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Former United States Marine Robert Gilman is on his way back to the US after being freed from prison in Russia.
US President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had approved Gilman’s release on humanitarian grounds. Gilman is said to be in poor health and was reportedly being held in a psychiatric ward of a hospital.
Trump added that Moscow did not ask for a prisoner swap and that Gilman was set to land at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C on Tuesday evening.
“I just spoke to him, and he had one request — A GREAT cheeseburger when he lands. I will take care of that!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Gilman was arrested and detained in Russia in 2022, accused of assaulting a police officer following an incident on a train in Voronezh, to the south of Moscow. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison over the incident, but his sentence was later extended to 10 years after he was alleged to have attacked prison staff.
According to US Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Gilman was diagnosed with a “dissociative stupor” around 50 days ago and became “non-responsive.”
“He was essentially catatonic and also suffered a severe case of pneumonia,” he said.
In a post on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked Russia for working with special envoy Steve Witkoff to secure Gilman’s release, which he said would allow him “to receive the necessary medical treatment here in the United States.”
But Rubio made it clear that while Washington was grateful for the “positive step,” the Trump administration would still be pushing for the “immediate return of all other unjustly detained Americans.”
“The President will not stop until all unjustly detained Americans are home,” he added.
Gilman was one of a number of Americans detained in Russia. Others being held in the country include Stephen Hubbard, who the State Department has labelled a “wrongful detainee,” and Army Staff Sergeant Gordon Black.