When Mark Warren, a 66-year-old Alaskan, was told Vladimir Putin intended to bring him a new motorbike he understandably thought it was a far-fetched scam. In fact, he thought it sounded ‘bats**t crazy.’
But, astonishingly, the Russian president did indeed bring a motorbike and sidecar to his summit with Donald Trump, and his officials then delivered it to Warren in a hotel parking lot in Anchorage.
As publicity stunts go it was perhaps the most bizarre Putin has ever performed and Warren, a retired fire inspector, is still trying to make sense of it.
‘I’m dumbfounded,’ Warren told the Daily Mail. ‘I guess I should probably write Putin a thank you letter or something. I haven’t. I’ve been so busy it hasn’t really sunk in yet.
‘It’s super cool, you know? I mean, it’s just such a unique bike.’
Warren, a retired fire inspector, was at pains to stress he did no ‘nefarious’ deals with Putin. He didn’t ask for the bike. He doesn’t know anyone in Russia. He wants Russia’s war in Ukraine to end.
The gift came about because Warren is a motorbike enthusiast who drives a Russian-made Ural bike, of which there are only a few dozen in Alaska.
The vehicles have a long history and were used by Russia against invading Nazis in World War II. Putin has in the past ridden one himself.
Mark Warren was ‘dumbfounded’ after Vladimir Putin gifted him a new Russian motorcycle
A Russian journalist, in town ahead of the summit, spotted Warren riding his bike on the streets of Anchorage, and they got chatting about how he was having problems with his starter and couldn’t get a new one.
A subsequent TV report about it went viral in Russia, and was clearly noticed by the Kremlin.
The next thing he knew, Warren had Russian officials on the phone telling him not to worry, Putin was going to bring him a new bike.
‘It was completely random,’ Warren said. ‘I own an older Ural motorcycle, and I was taking care of some business in Anchorage and driving through, I think it was the week before Putin came into town to meet with Trump at the Air Force Base.
‘I was just driving, and two gentlemen stopped me at a stop sign, and they turned out to be Russian journalists, and they were interested in the bike because it is Russian.
‘We had a conversation about the bike, I think that obviously they were filming it and recording me, which I was fine with, and we had a good conversation.’
Vladimir Putin drives a Ural motorcycle at an event organized by motorcycling club ‘Night Wolves’ in Sevastopol, Crimea August 10, 2019
After the Russian TV segment ‘exploded’ Warren got several calls from Russian diplomats assuring him that they were not scamming him – Putin wanted to give him a new Ural.
‘The bike flew in with Putin to the airport and then they had to figure out how to get it off the base,’ he said.
U.S. officials agreed to let the bike leave the scene of the summit, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
The day after Putin left, Warren got another call inviting him to the Lakeview hotel in Anchorage, where the Russian delegation had been staying.
Andrei Ledenev, a Russian diplomat was waiting with the bike and told him: ‘This is a personal gift from the President of the Russian Federation.’
‘It was just a formality of giving me the bike and saying that it was a gift from the Russian government and from Putin,’ Warren told the Daily Mail. ‘And, you know, I thanked him. And then one of the consulates got on the bike, and then they wanted me to run around, drive very slowly on the asphalt.’
Putin flew into Alaska on the ‘Flying Kremlin’ with the motorbike: It was unclear if the bike was on his plane or on an accompanying aircraft
The bike Putin gave him was very similar to his old one but with some ‘different trinkets.’
He said the reason for the difficulty getting new parts was not sanctions, as might be assumed, but a lack of mechanics in Alaska who work on Urals.
‘There’s only one and he doesn’t work on very much so you can kind of see the problem,’ he said..
To get parts he has to go through a a company in Redmond, Washington, and they have to get it from Russia.
Warren said he loves the Ural bikes but they are not for everybody.
‘They only produce about 42 horsepower, which obviously is not a very aggressive bike. They are somewhat difficult to drive because of the sidecar. It’s one more thing to worry about,’ he said.
‘If you take a right hand turn with the sidecar, that’s on the right of the bike, you have to be cautious because if you turn too quickly, the sidecar will actually lift up. It’s termed flying the chair. Pretty sporty, I gotta say. So the bike is kind of neat. It’s unique.’
President Donald Trump greeted Putin on his arrival for the summit
‘The history of the bike is interesting because it was built off the platform of a BMW. It’s got the old BMW boxer air cooled motor, and it’s got quite a history. It was in World War II. Apparently they put machine gun turrets on it and used it in battle and all sorts of strange stuff. For sure, they turn heads wherever you go.’
Paperwork that came with the bike showed it came off a factory line on August 12,
The manufacturer’s address was Sverdlosk, Russian Federation.
Warren said he won’t be riding it around Anchorage just yet.
‘I won’t ride it until I can get a title and insurance and everything. So it’s under wraps in my outbuilding at my house until I can get it registered with the state of Alaska Department of Motor Vehicles and get insurance on it.’
