Kathrine Frich
At first, he thought it was a prank. But things quickly became very real.
At first, he thought it was a prank. But things quickly became very real.
A Gift from Russia With a Sidecar
Mark Warren, a 66-year-old retired fire inspector from Anchorage, Alaska, was stunned when he received a brand-new £16,000 Ural motorcycle.
The unexpected gift came from none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the U.S. for a high-stakes summit with Donald Trump.
It All Started with a Viral Video
Warren had been struggling to repair his aging Soviet-era motorbike and vented about it on camera.
That clip somehow went viral on Russian state media.
“They just interviewed some old guy on a Ural, and for some reason they think it’s cool,” he joked.
He had no idea it would lead to an international gift.
A Call from Russia Before the Summit
Two days before the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, Warren received a phone call from a Russian journalist.
The message was simple: “They’ve decided to give you a bike.”
At first, he thought it was a prank. But things quickly became very real.
A Very Russian Handoff at an Anchorage Hotel
After the summit ended, Warren was told to meet at a hotel in Anchorage.
There, six Russian men presented him with the new Ural Gear Up sidecar bike.
“I dropped my jaw,” he said. “I went, ‘You’ve got to be joking me.’”
The group asked for photos and a short interview and that was it.
Built in 24 Hours, Shipped Like a Missile
According to documents Warren received, the bike was manufactured just a day before the summit.
He believes it was built, boxed, and flown out to Alaska in under 24 hours.
“It rolled off the showroom floor and slid into a jet,” he said, still amazed at the logistics behind the gesture.
From Suspicion to Surprise
Warren admitted he was initially skeptical, unsure if the whole thing was a scam.
But once the bike was in front of him, with paperwork from the Russian embassy and reporters on hand, he accepted it.
“I’m dumbfounded,” he said. “I guess I should probably write Putin a thank you letter.”
A Strange Moment Amid a Bloody War
While Warren was receiving his surprise motorbike, Putin was launching another brutal wave of attacks on Ukraine.
Just hours after meeting Trump, Russia bombarded Ukrainian cities with over 270 drones and missiles, targeting energy and transport systems and killing civilians.
A Gift That Leaves a Complicated Legacy
Warren called the gift “super cool” and unique. But it came against the backdrop of a deadly conflict still unfolding.
As Putin continues his war in Ukraine, even a seemingly innocent gesture like this reflects the complex, often contradictory nature of global politics.
