Russia releases former US Marine reported in poor health

What the report says

Russia has released Robert Gilman, a former US Marine from Massachusetts, after he had been held since 2022 and was reported to be in very poor health. According to BBC World News, Russian official Kirill Dmitriev said Gilman was freed from detention for humanitarian reasons and was on a US plane to Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

Gilman was arrested in 2022 after an incident on a train to Moscow in which he was accused of kicking a police officer while drunk. The BBC also reported, citing Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, that Gilman had been described as essentially catatonic and suffering from severe pneumonia before the release. Markey said he had recently been diagnosed with a dissociative stupor, a condition that can leave a person unable to respond, eat or interact.

Reuters, as cited in the BBC report, said medical staff were tending to Gilman during the return flight and that a US official believed he appeared to be in good condition. His family was expected to meet him at a military hospital in Texas, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

The case highlights the tense backdrop of US-Russia relations and the limited transparency around the treatment of detainees held in Russia. BBC World News reported that Gilman’s sister thanked President Trump for helping secure his release, though the full circumstances of the decision were not independently detailed in the article.