Witkoff tells Putin freed ex-US Marine’s family ‘incredibly indebted to you’ (VIDEO)

Robert Gilman, who had been jailed in Russia in 2022 for assaulting a police officer, was released last month for “humanitarian” reasons US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff has conveyed deep gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin from the family of former US Marine Robert Gilman, who was released from jail in Russia last month.

The 32-year-old US national was detained in early 2022 after drunkenly assaulting a police officer while traveling through the country by train.

He was freed in mid-August before his prison term expired, apparently for humanitarian reasons, after Trump interceded with his Russian counterpart.

Addressing Putin during talks at the Kremlin on Saturday, Witkoff stated that the “Gilman family is incredibly indebted to you and thanks you very very much for Bob Gilman being allowed to come home.” Putin replied by saying that the man’s relatives should be thanking President Trump.

“They have thanked President Trump, but they thank you also, sir, ” the senior US negotiator said.

Witkoff, along with another US presidential envoy, Jared Kushner, arrived in Moscow earlier on Saturday for talks aimed at settling the Ukraine conflict.

During the meeting, Putin praised Washington’s efforts to mediate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, while Witkoff thanked the Russian president for halting strikes on Kiev ahead of the US negotiators’ planned visit there.

READ MORE: Putin pauses strikes on Kiev Gilman had been flown out of Russia on a State Department plane in August after reportedly being granted a presidential pardon over his deteriorating mental health.

Commenting on the ex-Marine’s release at the time, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that “Russia asked for no one in return.” The US national had initially been sentenced to 4.5 years behind bars for assaulting a police officer, with the term reduced to 3.5 years by a higher court.

However, Gilman reportedly grew increasingly violent while in a penal colony and was handed an additional seven years of incarceration in 2024 over repeated assaults on prison staff.

According to media reports, the man was transferred to a civilian psychiatric ward in July in a state of “dissociative stupor.”