Russia Frees Ailing Ex-Marine Robert Gilman After More Than Four Years

Russia released Gilman after President Vladimir Putin reportedly approved a pardon on humanitarian grounds, according to an advocacy group representing the family⁠7. President Trump announced the release, and Gilman was identified as a U.S. citizen from Lowell, Massachusetts⁠5⁠7. The U.S. government had recently designated Gilman as wrongfully detained⁠11.

The length of the detention is central because it frames everything that followed. Gilman had been held since 2022 on disputed charges, a characterization used by Boston public radio station WBUR⁠9. By this summer, advocates were no longer talking primarily about the legal case but about survival, saying he was gravely ill and at risk of dying after more than four years in prison⁠3⁠9⁠10.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a State Department statement on August 11 that Gilman was on his way home to be reunited with his family⁠4. In the same statement, Rubio said Gilman joins over 100 Americans whom President Trump has freed during his second term in office⁠4. Rubio also thanked Russia for working with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to release Gilman and for allowing him to receive necessary medical treatment in the United States⁠4. Rubio also posted a photo of Gilman to X following the release⁠6.

The question of where exactly Gilman was headed shows how fast and fragmented the news was on Tuesday. Trump said Gilman was expected to land in Washington, DC, the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 11⁠5. WBUR said Gilman was on his way to a U.S. military hospital in Texas for medical and psychological assessment and treatment⁠9. Al Jazeera reported he was expected to land at Andrews Air⁠11. The sources disagree on the destination, and they do not confirm a single airport and hospital itinerary.

Even basic biographical details differ in the first-day reporting. Gilman is described as 32 years old by USA Today and Al Jazeera⁠5⁠11, though WCVB gives his age as 31⁠8. The sources disagree on his age.

What advocates agree on is that his health had become the urgent issue. WCVB reported that advocates alleged Gilman was on the brink of death because of years of physical and physiological torture in prison⁠8. That language is stark, and it was echoed in broader advocate warnings that he was gravely ill and at risk of dying⁠3⁠9⁠10. Eric Lebson, chief strategy officer of Global Reach, the group advocating for Gilman, said Gilman was on his way to a U.S. military hospital⁠9.

Gilman’s sister, Lexie Hudson, credited Trump and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts with bringing about his release⁠3. The credit matters because it points to the two tracks that often run in these cases: presidential-level diplomacy and sustained home-state congressional pressure. In this instance, the State Department publicly credited work with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff⁠4, while the family pointed to Trump and Markey⁠3.

The Rubio statement’s broader tally — that Gilman joins over 100 Americans freed during Trump’s second term — places one man’s release inside a much larger claimed pattern of repatriations⁠4. Whether that number holds up to independent accounting is not resolved in the reporting file, but the administration clearly wanted Gilman’s return understood as part of that record rather than as an isolated humanitarian gesture⁠4.

For now, the established core is narrow but significant: a Lowell man imprisoned since 2022 is out after more than four years, freed under a reported pardon, announced by Trump, confirmed by Rubio, and sent toward American doctors⁠5⁠7⁠4⁠9. The rest — exact age in first-day reports, exact runway and hospital, exact condition after years in Russian custody — remains caught between conflicting early accounts⁠5⁠11⁠8⁠9. What is not in dispute is that advocates feared he would not survive much longer where he was⁠3⁠9⁠10.