Former Marine Held In Russia For 4 Years Has Been Freed, Trump Says

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Russia has freed Robert Gilman, an American who had been detained in the country for more than four years, amid increasingly dire reports about his health.

“After my discussions with President Vladimir Putin, Russia has agreed to release him, very much on a Humanitarian Basis,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We appreciate this decision, and the fact that Russia asked for no one in return — No exchange took place.”

Gilman, an English teacher and Marine Corps veteran, was detained by Russian police while traveling to the U.S. embassy in Moscow in January 2022 and charged with assaulting a police officer, which advocates stringently denied. They called for Moscow to release him as soon as possible for treatment in American hospitals, saying he’d faced torture that had caused him to enter into a stupor in June, concerns that were first reported by Reuters.

The U.S. has now freed more than 100 Americans since Trump returned to the Oval Office last year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X. The administration is “still seeking the immediate return of all other unjustly detained Americans,” he said.

Trump lauded his administration’s efforts to free Gilman, as well as other Americans the U.S. argues have been unjustly imprisoned abroad, like the deal the Trump administration negotiated to free American school teacher Marc Fogel from a Russian prison in February 2025. And Venezuela freed six American prisoners — even before strongman Nicolás Maduro was removed from power — after a visit from special envoy Ric Grenell in January 2025.

“During my Administration, we have prioritized bringing home Americans Detained Abroad, and have done so at a level never seen before, returning hundreds of people to their families,” he wrote Tuesday. “We have also freed many non Americans who were under capture in different countries throughout the World.”

The U.S. has secured several more high-profile prisoner releases from Russia in recent years, including WNBA superstar Brittney Griner, who was sentenced to nine years in prison on cannabis possession charges, and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, both of whom returned home under former President Joe Biden.

Trump posted a photo on his social media account showing Gilman and his mother on a plane exiting Russia. The president said Gilman would be landing at Andrews Air Force Base in a matter of hours.

“I just spoke to him, and he had one request — A GREAT cheeseburger when he lands,” Trump wrote. “I will take care of that!”