Russia frees ailing US Marine vet Robert Gilman from prison

WASHINGTON – Moscow on Tuesday freed a US Marine veteran jailed in Russia since 2022 after Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a ​pardon for the ailing American based on humanitarian reasons, US officials said.The White House and the ‌State Department had urged Moscow to release Robert Gilman, 32, so he can receive medical treatment in the United States.Gilman was being held in a prison in Voronezh, about 340 miles (550 kilometers) south of Moscow.The exact circumstances of his health are unclear.But Eric Lebson, chief strategy officer of Global Reach, an advocacy group representing Gilman’s family, told Reuters last week that Gilman was moved in late June from the prison hospital to the psychiatric ward of a civilian emergency hospital in a catatonic-like state assessed as a “dissociative stupor.”The US officials said Gilman on Tuesday was on a State Department plane carrying him from Russia to Washington Dulles Airport.A US official who spoke to Gilman said he was walking and talking.“All things considered he seems to be in good shape,” the official said.Gilman will be evaluated on the flight by four doctors, said the US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

His mother, Nina, was also on board.The US officials said Gilman, upon arrival at Dulles, will be greeted by US envoy Steve Witkoff and deputy national security adviser Sebastian Gorka, both of whom had sought Gilman’s release along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, US special envoy for hostage response Adam Boehler and other officials.After that, Gilman is likely to be flown to a rehabilitation center in San Antonio, Texas, for medical treatment, the officials said.Gilman, who served in the US Marines from August 2019 until August 2020, was traveling by train when he was arrested in January 2022 in Voronezh, Lebson said.He was detained for allegedly kicking a police officer while drunk, according to Russ...