Vladimir Putin has freed a former U.S. Marine after more than four years in a Russian prison, U.S. officials told Reuters.
Robert Gilman, 32, who served in the Marines from 2019 to 2020, had been imprisoned since January 2022. A trip through Russia on his way to an English-teaching job in Moldova ended with his arrest.
Russian authorities accused Gilman of being drunk and kicking a police officer during his stay. His father, Vladimir Gilman, has disputed that account, saying his son was sick and that the officer did not present evidence at Gilman’s trial.
Gilman was initially sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. Russian authorities later extended his sentence after accusing him of assaulting prison staff, allegations his advocates have denied.
His condition took a severe turn this summer. In late June, Gilman was moved from a prison hospital to the psychiatric ward of a civilian hospital in a catatonic-like state assessed as a “dissociative stupor.”
Eric Lebson, a representative of Gilman’s family, said he could no longer communicate, kept his eyes shut and had to receive food through a tube. Advocates have accused Russian prison guards of torturing Gilman and injecting him with mind-altering drugs, which they say contributed to his hospitalization.
“I’m worried that I may never see him again if the Russians don’t release him,” his sister, Lexie Hudson, said in a statement last week. “I’m worried that he could die.”
The White House and State Department had been pressing Moscow to release Gilman so he could receive medical treatment in the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also raised the case with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Manila last month.
Putin ultimately agreed to pardon Gilman on humanitarian grounds. Russian official Yuri Ushakov informed Trump aides last week that Putin had approved the move. U.S. and Russian officials held negotiations over the weekend to secure his release.
No Russian prisoners were exchanged for Gilman.
“It’s a goodwill gesture,” one U.S. official said in a statement to Reuters.
Gilman left Russia on Tuesday aboard a State Department plane with his mother and four doctors who were evaluating him during the flight. Despite the dire descriptions of his health, a U.S. official who spoke with Gilman said he was walking and talking.
“All things considered, he seems to be in good shape,” the official said.
Gilman is expected to be taken to a rehabilitation center in San Antonio, Texas, for further medical treatment after arriving in the United States.
He is the latest former U.S. Marine to return home after a years-long imprisonment in Russia.
Trevor Reed was arrested in Moscow in 2019 after Russian authorities accused him of assaulting police officers following a night of drinking, charges he and the U.S. government denied.
He was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison before being freed in April 2022 in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot imprisoned in the U.S. on drug-smuggling charges.
Paul Whelan spent more than five years in Russian custody after being arrested in Moscow in December 2018 on espionage charges. He was sentenced to 16 years before finally being freed in August 2024 alongside The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in a multinational prisoner exchange.
