An Alaskan man named Mark Warren recently found himself at the center of international attention after receiving an unexpected gift from Russian President Vladimir Putin
Mark received the surprising gift shortly after Putin visited Alaska for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Who is Mark Warren of Anchorage, Alaska who received a motorcycle from Russian President Vladimir Putin
🇷🇺🏍️ An unexpected twist in #Anchorage: #Mark_Warren longed for spare parts for his Russian #Ural_bike but couldn’t get them due to sanctions, just received a brand-new motorcycle — from Vladimir #Putin via Russian diplomatspic.twitter.com/S7IpyQvirs #Sanctions just spark a… pic.twitter.com/U0colNFxVi
— ⚡️🌎 World News 🌐⚡️ (@ferozwala) August 18, 2025
Putin's delegation gifted Mark Warren, a retired fire inspector for the Municipality of Anchorage, a Ural Gear Up motorcycle with a sidecar, one week after a television crew's interview with Warren went viral in Russia. The motorcycle company, founded in 1941 in western… pic.twitter.com/xtJaoDHAPn
— Bella (@stockbella) August 20, 2025
Russian embassy officials directly delivered the gift to Warren, which as a brand-new Ural motorbike worth $22,000.
Mark Warren receives personal gift from Russian President Vladimir Putin
An Alaska native named Mark Warren recently received a motorbike from Russian President Vladimir Putin. When Russian officials came over to inform him about the gift, Warren initially dismissed the promise as a scam. However, just 24 hours after the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska, Russian embassy officials contacted him again and arranged the official handover of the bike. Russian state media captured the whole moment of Warren receiving the gleaming new Ural Gear Up motorcycle and described it as a goodwill gesture toward Americans. Warren was visibly moved by the gift and shared:
I’m speechless. It’s amazing. Thank you very much.”
Despite appreciating the generosity, Warren later admitted that the gift brought him backlash from some fellow Americans but he remained unapologetic and stated:
I took it. I could have not taken it, and probably pissed off just as many people as doing that. I don’t care.”
Putin Gifts Motorcycle to Alaskan American After Spotting Him Riding a Soviet Model
A resident of the city of Anchorage, Mark Warren, received from Vladimir Putin a motorcycle of the Russian company Ural after Russian media published his photograph…https://t.co/vtSM2v64Rp pic.twitter.com/DHnih7Zf4u
— The Srpska Times (@TheSrpskaTimes) August 20, 2025
Mark Warren biography
Mark Warren is a native of Alaska who is reportedly a retired fire inspector of the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska. He is currently 67-years-old, and known in his community for riding a Soviet-era motorbike. Warren often used his motorbike for errands even though finding spare parts for his bike became increasingly difficult due to the manufacturer being located in Ukraine. Warren went viral on social media after Russian journalists noticed his old motorbike while filming ahead of the high-stakes Trump-Putin summit. Ever since the clip spread quickly across Russian media, it caught Putin’s attention and eventually resulted in the unique gift.
