Russia-released former US Marine Robert Gilman returns home PHOTO

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff posted a photo on X with former US Marine Robert Gilman, who was released by Russia and is returning home.

The photo shows Gilman and Witkoff aboard an aircraft, Caliber.Az reports.

A special night welcoming an American citizen home to his family and country. Thank you @POTUS for never leaving anyone behind. pic.twitter.com/xOaryfBSxY

— Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (@SEPeaceMissions) August 12, 2026

“Tonight, I had the profound privilege of welcoming Robert Gilman home to the United States after more than four years of detention in Russia. <...> We thank President Putin for granting Robert a pardon on humanitarian grounds and for his personal engagement throughout this process,” Witkoff wrote.

The special envoy also highlighted President Donald Trump’s “unwavering commitment” to “bringing Americans home.”

“President Trump will continue fighting every day to bring ALL Americans detained abroad safely HOME,” he added.

Witkoff said that, at the president’s direction, he, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s special envoy Adam Boehler, Trump’s deputy national security adviser Sebastian Gorka and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner worked closely to secure Gilman’s release.

Earlier, it was reported that Rubio raised the issue of releasing former US Marine Robert Gilman, who had been serving a sentence in Russia since 2022, during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on July 23.

Robert Gilman, a former US Marine from Massachusetts, was detained on January 17, 2022, in Voronezh, Russia, after passengers reported him causing a disturbance on a train (reportedly while intoxicated), leading transport police to remove him. 

Russian authorities charged him with assaulting a police officer by kicking him at the station. Gilman later told a court he believed his drink had been spiked and recalled little of the incident, while his family has stated he was ill, possibly concussed, and any contact was accidental. A Russian court convicted him in 2022 of the assault and initially sentenced him to about 3.5–4.5 years.

By Jeyhun Aghazada