Putin Pardons U.S. Ex‑Marine Robert Gilman

Overview

• The pardon that Vladimir Putin signed Tuesday allowed Robert Gilman to leave Russia on a U.S. State Department plane bound for Washington Dulles under medical escort.
• Family advocates and the nonprofit Global Reach had warned in June and July that Gilman’s health had sharply declined, reporting a diagnosis described as a ‘‘stupor dissociative’’ and periods when he was fed by tube.
• Gilman was arrested in Voronezh in January 2022 after an incident on a train and was originally sentenced to four-and-a-half years; Russian outlets later reported the term was extended to about ten years after alleged in-prison infractions.
• U.S. officials said senior American envoys and medical staff coordinated the evacuation, President Trump credited talks with Putin for the outcome, and Washington insisted no U.S. concessions or prisoner swap took place.
• U.S. authorities plan in-flight medical evaluations, a reception at Dulles by U.S. envoys, and transfer to a rehabilitation facility in San Antonio, Texas, as the State Department says it will continue seeking the release of other Americans held in Russia.