Vladimir Putin gave an Alaska man a new motorcycle after he became a viral sensation in Russian state media when he complained that the Ukraine war was making it more expensive to repair the Soviet-era bike he was a driving.
Mark Warren, of Anchorage, said he was handed the keys to the spanking new Ural motorbike in a motel parking lot by a Russian embassy staffer last week after Putin’s high-stakes meeting with President Trump.
“I have to say that this is a personal gift from the President of the Russian Federation,” the employee told Warren in a propaganda clip blasted out by Russian state media.
The bizarre chain of events unfolded after a Russian TV crew, in town ahead of the Putin-Trump meeting, flagged the retired fire inspector down as he was running errands on his Soviet-era bike on Aug. 9.
They initially admired the motorcycle before peppering Warren with questions about the upcoming summit and the economic impacts of the war.
In the clip, Warren mentioned that he was finding it harder — and more expensive — to find spare parts for his bike because the manufacturing plant is “located in Ukraine.”
Still, the Russian reporters quickly seized on Warren’s remarks by making him the star of a news report about the economic fallout of sanctions and the war in general.
“So for you, if they resolve this conflict here in Alaska, I mean Putin and Trump, it will be good?” the reporter asked Warren in the report.
“Yes, it will be good,” the local man replied.
Days later, Warren told the Anchorage Daily News he received a phone call from one of the reporters claiming the news report had gone viral in Russia — and had even caught Putin’s eye.
Russian officials quickly promised him a new bike, which retails for roughly $22,000, but Warren insisted he initially brushed it off as a suspected scam given it all sounded “bats–t crazy.”
Less than 24 hours after Putin sat down with Trump, Warren said Russian embassy officials reached out to arrange for him to meet in the parking lot of the Anchorage motel where the Kremlin delegation had been staying.
Footage of the gift handover, which was broadcast on Russian state media, showed Warren hopping aboard his new bike and taking it for a spin.
“It’s night and day,” Warren said in the clip. “I like my old one, but this one is obviously much better.”
“I’m speechless, it’s amazing. Thank you very much.”
Ural’s original factory was founded in 1941 in what was then Soviet Russia but it is now headquartered in Washington state.
The company, which noted all of its motorcycles are assembled in Kazakhstan, said it pulled its production out of Russia after Putin launched his invasion.
While Russian media described the act as a gesture of goodwill to Americans, Warren was adamant he wasn’t being used as a Putin propaganda tool.
“They’re getting nothing from me,” he said. “Nothing.”
Warren also dismissed the backlash he has been getting for accepting the gift from the Russian strongman.
“I p—ed off all sorts of people,” he said. “I took it. I could have not taken it, and probably p—ed off just as many people as doing that. I don’t care.”
“It’s a good bike,” he added.
With Post wires
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