WASHINGTON, August 12. /TASS/. US President's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has stated that he is meeting in the United States with Robert Gilman, an American who was convicted in Russia and released on health grounds.
"Tonight, I had the profound privilege of welcoming Robert Gilman home to the United States after more than four years of detention in Russia," Witkoff wrote on his social network X page on Tuesday. "He can now finally return to his family and receive the medical care he needs," Witkoff added.
"We thank President Putin for granting Robert a pardon on humanitarian grounds and for his personal engagement throughout this process," the statement reads.
On August 11, US President Donald Trump announced that US serviceman Gilman convicted in Russia had been released and was on his way home. In Trump’s words, Putin agreed to release him "on a humanitarian basis," without exchanging him for any of Russians held in custody on the US territory. According to Reuters, Gilman, detained for drunk debauchery on a railway station in Central Russia’s Voronezh in 2022, is being brought to the United States aboard a special flight. Meanwhile, Associated Press reported that the US citizen will be taken to a hospital in Texas for medical examination and treatment.