A former US Marine who has been held in a Russian prison since 2022 and had been reported to be in serious medical condition in recent weeks has been freed and is being flown back to the United States.
Robert Gilman, 32, left Russia earlier on August 11 en route to Washington, D.C., escorted by US government personnel, according to Eric Lebson, chief strategy officer with Global Reach, an advocacy group. Gilman will then fly on to Texas for medical checks and treatment.
Gilman's case -- and his medical condition -- had prompted US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to speak directly his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Gilman was released on "humanitarian grounds," a US State Department spokesperson said.
No Russians held in US custody were released in exchange -- something that has happened repeatedly in recent years -- and no other concessions were given, said the official, who spoke on condition he or she not be named.
Asked about reports that President Vladimir Putin had granted a "humanitarian pardon" to Gilman, the official declined to comment on Russia's "internal process."
The Kremlin made no immediate comment on the report.
Gilman, who was discharged from the US military in August 2020, was traveling in Russia by train when he was arrested in January 2022 in Voronezh, Lebson said.
Russian news reports said he was detained for allegedly kicking a police officer while drunk and handed a two-year prison sentence.
A judge in Voronezh tacked on an additional eight-year prison sentence after Gilman was alleged to have attacked guards at the penitentiary.
In an opinion article for the Boston Globe published in October 2024, his father, Vladimir Gilman, who emigrated to Massachusetts from Russia, wrote that the charges were false.
In late June, Gilman, who was being held in prison in Voronezh, about 500 kilometers south of Moscow, was transferred to a hospital, where he was suffering from a "dissociative stupor," Lebson told RFE/RL.
It was unclear exactly why Gilman's condition worsened so drastically in recent months.
Lebson said Gilman had been "subjected to harsh and abusive treatment" while in prison, but did not give further details.
The issue of American citizens being held in Russian prisons has become a prominent political issue in recent years.
Under President Donald Trump, as well as his predecessor, Joe Biden, Moscow and Washington conducted several major swaps of prisoners held in US and Russian prisons.
At least five American citizens remain in Russian detention, according to Lebsen; other reports put the number as high as 10.
An unknown number of Russians, meanwhile, are held in US custody, including a former employee of Russia's main intelligence agency, the FSB, who was extradited from Thailand to the United States in June on computer hacking charges.
Last week, Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian who was sentenced to 20 years in a US prison on drug charges then released n 2022 as part of another prisoner swap, told the TASS news agency that Moscow was unlikely to release Gilman on humanitarian grounds.
