Putin ‘personally gifts’ Ural bike to ‘random’ man during his Alaska visit; netizens say ‘Never see Zelensky doing that’

Russian President Vladimir Putin “personally gifted” a Ural bike reportedly valued at $22,000 to a “random” man when he was in Alaska on 15 August to attend a summit with US President Donald Trump where the deal on Russia-Ukraine war could not be reached.

According to Andrei Ledenev, counselor at the Russian Embassy in Washington who gave the keys to a astonished Mark Warren in front of state TV cameras, “This is a personal gift from the Russian president.”

Warren, who owns a Soviet-era Ural, said that sanctions have made it increasingly expensive to repair his motorcycle, with replacement parts now extremely difficult to source.

Russian media claimed the gift as a symbol of Moscow’s goodwill, whereas Warren called the new Ural as “night and day” in comparsion to his old bike, as he did a test ride with Ledenev behind him and another diplomat in the sidecar.

‘No reason why they should give me a bike’

“I thought it was a hoax because they don’t know me. I don’t know them. There were two gentlemen at an intersection that stopped me, and they identified themselves as Russian journalists, and they were interested in why I had the bike. It was purely just information about the bike, why I bought it, and about what I did to fix it up. I just felt, this is so random and so strange, that I felt apprehensive about this being actually really going to happen … this doesn’t just happen. I know no one from the Russian Embassy,” Warren said.

He added, “There is no reason why they could have … should give me a bike. I haven’t done anything for them or to them, and I don’t know anybody. So yeah, it’s so absolutely astronomically random that it was hard for me to understand why this happens. Matter of fact, I still don’t know why.”

Named after the Ural Mountains that span western Russia from north to south, Ural Motorcycles originated in Irbit, Russia, where the first factory was set up in 1941. Since August 2022, the motorcycles have been assembled in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan.

Netizens react

One of the users said, “Never see Zelensky doing that”. Another questioned, “Was that one of his military bikes?” “One of the greatest Presidents alive! President Putin is an AMAZING man,” said the third. “I wouldn’t accept it”, “Nice gift, I really want one of those Urals, they look cool. Congrats to him!” were some other comments made.

“We see the strive of the administration and President Trump personally to help facilitate the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict and his strive to get to the crux of the matter, to understand this history, is precious. The situation in Ukraine poses a fundamental threat to our security. Moreover, the Ukrainian nation, and I have said it multiple times, is a brotherly nation; however strange it may sound in these conditions. We have the same roots, and everything that’s happening is a tragedy for us. And a terrible wound,” Putin said after the Alaska meeting.