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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — One Alaska man, who is a longtime retired fire inspector, may have been an unlikely but big winner at the U.S.-Russia summit in Anchorage between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week: a new motorcycle, provided by the Russians.

Municipality of Anchorage Fire Inspector Mark Warren never imagined one of his typical, normal, daily errand-running motorcycle-riding days would land him under the international spotlight or net him a $22,000 motorcycle from a foreign government.

Until Russian state-owned media stopped him for an interview, last week in Anchorage. He told them about his two-wheel troubles, which went viral in Russia.

The Russians then invited him to a ceremony, one week after his Aug. 12 viral interview, for the surprise gift-bike giveaway in Anchorage: a Ural Gear Up with sidecar in olive green, manufactured Aug. 12.

The Russian motorcycle manufacturer Ural was started in western Siberia in 1941, the company website shows, but today it assembles in Petropavlovsk in Kazakhstan. Ural ships to the U.S. through a team in Woodinville, Wash.

Warren already has a Ural, though it’s a pre-owned one he purchased from a neighbor.

Keeping that old Ural on the road hasn’t been easy. Parts are scarce, he said, and it’s usually more buyer than sa eller’s market.

The Russians simply asked for a photo, an interview (again), and some video of him, the new motorcycle in tow.

“I said, ‘Okay. Y’all go in front, I’ll ride around the parking lot, and one of y’all can run and take some video of me going around the parking lot, that’ll be good enough,” Warren said.

Russians Deliver Surprise $22K Motorcycl.e

He found the whole thing weird, the whole idea of a Russian surprise-gift motorcycle that cost him almost nothing.

“(It) is kind of the weirdest feeling I’ve ever had because it’s a gift from a foreign government,” Warren said. “It’s from a foreign government that I don’t know. I don’t know why they’re doing it.”

Warren said the journalists and the person from the Russian consulate pileintoto the sidecar for the official photo, another lap around the parking lot, and then a “drive to victory” down a street close to the hotel where the surprise unfolded.

“I’ve never had anything that fast in my life,” Warren, 69, said with a laugh.

Two days before the Aug. 16 Trump-Putin talks on the war in Ukraine, Warren had been interviewed by a Russian journalist at the street intersection near a Dunkin’ Donuts. He agreed to an interview, which went viral in Russia, he said. He could not access it in Alaska.

The next morning, Warren was surprised by a call from the Russian journalist.

“I get a call back on Aug. 13 from this reporter,” Warren said. “He goes, ‘They’ve decided to give you a bike.’ I thought he was crazy.”

Free stuff, Warren thought, doesn’t usually just show up. But as the president’s summit got underway that day on Friday, Aug. 13, Warren received another call.

“It was early Friday afternoon, and I got another call,” Warren said. “He said, ‘Oh, the motorcycle is in Anchorage.’”

He was instructed to go to a hotel in town the next day.

Warren and his wife “rolled in and we just stood there looking like idiots because we didn’t know what to expect,” Warren said. “Sure enough, I look out in the parking lot. We’ve got six Russians, I thin,k and the motorcycle.”

Warren said he dropped his jaw. “I went, ‘You’ve got to be joking me,’” he said.

Warren, A Russian Motorcycle Gift Recipient, Isn’t Sure Why

The Russians simply wanted a photo, an interview (again,) and some video, he said.

“I said, ‘Okay. Y’all go in front, I’ll ride around the parking lot, and one of y’all can run and take some video of me going around the parking lot, that’ll be good enough,” Warren said.

The Russians loaded up and left after a photo, another loop around the parking lot, and a “drive to victory” down a road near the hotel.

“I’ve never had anything that fast in my life,” Warren, 69, said with a laugh.

Warren said it was really weird to accept the gift from the Russian government. There was a feeling that “you are somehow a pawn in some kind of political game,” Warren said. “The only reservation I had was that I might somehow be implicated in some nefarious Russian scheme.”

He didn’t want haters coming after him for the Russian motorcycle. “I don’t want this for my family,” Warren said.

Warren said he is confident he did nothing wrong. He signed no agreement with Russia. The only thing he signed was the paperwork with the Russian Embassy to take possession of the bike, which indicated it was manufactured on Aug. 12.

“The obvious thing here is that it rolled off the showroom floor and slid into a jet within probably 24 hours,” Warren said.

For Warren, the new motorcycle was “nice and unexpected,” Warren said. “I wasn’t expecting it. They didn’t have to do that. It’s more than I thought it would be, by a long shot.”

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