Alaskan man gifted new motorcycle by Putin during Trump summit
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Alaska resident Mark Warren on his new Ural motorcycle, a gift from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A local man in Anchorage was given a new motorcycle by Russian President Vladimir Putin during last week’s summit with US President Donald Trump
An employee of the Russian embassy in the United States handed the man, Mr Mark Warren, the keys to his new Ural motorcycle in the carpark of the Anchorage hotel where the Russian delegation was staying.
“I have to say that this is a personal gift from the President of the Russian Federation,” Mr Andrei Ledenev, the embassy employee, told Mr Warren.
The white-haired, bespectacled Mr Warren, who Reuters was unable to contact for comment, was shown hopping aboard his new bike, with Mr Ledenev behind him and another man in the sidecar, to take it for a spin.
“It’s night and day,” Mr Warren said of the motorcycle. “I like my old one, but this one is obviously much better.”
“I’m speechless, it’s amazing. Thank you very much,” he added.
The unexpected gift by the Russian leader came after reporters with Russian state television Channel 1 met Mr Warren by chance on the streets of Anchorage ahead of the summit.
The reporters stopped to admire Mr Warren’s bike, which is manufactured by Ural, whose original factory was founded in 1941 in what was then Soviet Russia.
Mr Warren told a reporter, Mr Valentin Bogdanov, that he had struggled to obtain spare parts for the bike, including a new starter, because the manufacturing plant is “located in Ukraine”.
“So for you, if they resolve this conflict here in Alaska, I mean Putin and Trump, it will be good?” Mr Bogdanov asked Mr Warren.
“Yes, it will be good,” the Alaskan replied.
Ural, which is headquartered in Washington State, says that all of its motorcycles are assembled in Kazakhstan.
The company pulled all its production out of Russia after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.
Ural did not immediately reply to a request for comment outside working hours in the US. REUTERS
