(Reuters) -A local man in Anchorage was given a new motorcycle by Russian President Vladimir Putin during last week’s summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Alaskan city, according to a report published by Russian state television.
An employee of the Russian embassy in the United States handed the man, Mark Warren, the keys to his new Ural motorcycle in the parking lot 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,” Andrei Ledenev, the embassy employee, told Warren.
The white-haired, bespectacled Warren, who Reuters was unable to contact for comment, was shown hopping aboard his new bike, Ledenev behind him and another man in the sidecar, to take it for a spin.
“It’s night and day,” Warren said. “I like my old one, but this one is obviously much better.”
“I’m speechless, it’s amazing. Thank you very much.”
The unexpected gift by the Russian leader came after reporters with Russian state television Channel 1 met Warren by chance on the streets of Anchorage ahead of the summit.
The reporters stopped to admire Warren’s bike, which is manufactured by Ural, whose original factory was founded in 1941 in what was then Soviet Russia.
Warren told a reporter, Valentin Bogdanov, that he 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?” Bogdanov asks Warren.
“Yes, it will be good,” the Alaskan replies.
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 U.S.
(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou, Editing by William Maclean)
