WASHINGTON, August 7. /TASS/. The Washington administration has appealed to Russia to release American citizen Robert Gilman, who was convicted in Russia of assaulting a government official, Reuters reported.

According to the news agency, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised the Gilman case during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Manila on July 23. A source told Reuters that the Washington administration "is closely tracking Mr. Gilman’s case and has made repeated, concerted outreach to the Russians calling for his return to the United States." The source added that the State Department is concerned about the American’s health.

At the same time, the news agency noted that the Washington administration has not designated Gilman as "unlawfully detained." As US authorities have previously stated, in cases where the US considers one of its citizens to be "unlawfully detained," the individual's release is treated as a priority, and appropriate measures are taken through interagency coordination.

Gilman was detained on January 19, 2022, at the Voronezh train station for causing a disturbance while drunk on a train. At the police station, he kicked a Russian Interior Ministry officer. The court sentenced him to four and a half years in a general-regime penal colony. While serving his sentence, however, the US citizen repeatedly used physical violence against prison officers and was moved to increasingly secure prisons. Consequently, his sentence was first extended to over seven years and then by an additional two years.