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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The world has been watching all week as President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin haggle over the war in Ukraine in their first meeting in Anchorage. But the most memorable win in Alaska this week may have been for the Alaskan who rode off on a new motorcycle provided by the Russian president’s entourage.

Mark Warren, 67, was riding his motorcycle Monday afternoon to run some errands when a Russian television reporter stopped to interview him. He shared his woes about owning an older Ural motorcycle when parts for the rugged bikes were not easy to find in Alaska. The reporter’s interview about the “difficult” experience went viral in Russia.

“That just about did it for me. I was done. But that’s when it went viral, it went crazy, and I have no idea why because I’m just a super-duper normal guy,” Warren said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Warren retired as a fire inspector for the Municipality of Anchorage. He has an interest in older motorcycles and had bought a used Ural two years earlier from a neighbor for his collection. He has since found the work and parts to keep the older Ural running in Alaska to be challenging.

Warren’s interview on the old motorcycle was picked up by more Russian television news programs. On Aug. 13, two days before the summit at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson to discuss the war in Ukraine, Warren said the Russian reporter called him with an offer.

“He called and said, ‘They have decided to give you a bike,’ ” Warren said. Warren said he didn’t believe it was true.

Warren again was skeptical, especially when, after the three-hour meeting, in which both world leaders flew out of Alaska on different planes, the reporter again called. This time, the reporter told Warren that the new motorcycle had arrived in Anchorage.

The reporter told Warren to meet him at a local hotel the following day, and he would find out the details. The retired inspector and his wife reported to the parking lot the next day. “Six guys were standing out there that I was fairly certain were Russians, and they had the olive-drab Gear Up,” Warren said.

“It was pristine. I dropped my jaw. I went, ‘You’ve got to be joking me,’ ” Warren said. He explained that the Russians said they only wanted to take a photo of him, interview him again, and shoot some video of him getting on the motorcycle.

Warren obliged. Two reporters and a representative of the Russian consulate hopped on the motorcycle’s sidecar as Warren circled the parking lot. A cameraman jogged beside him.

Despite his surprise, Warren said the interaction gave him pause. “The only reservation I had was that I might somehow be implicated in some nefarious Russian scheme. I don’t want a bunch of haters coming after me because I got a Russian motorcycle. … I don’t want this for my family,” Warren said.

Warren signed only the document from the Russian Embassy in the U.S. transferring ownership of the motorcycle. The title, which Warren provided to The Associated Press, is notarized and lists the manufacture date as 12 August 2020.

“It rolled off the showroom floor and slid into a jet within probably 24 hours,” Warren said.

Warren, who is retired, said he does not want to use the Russian motorcycle in Alaska. He now rides a Yamaha motorcycle.

“I am grateful for the gift and generous offer, but do not feel comfortable taking it, given the current political climate,” Warren said in an email to AP.

Warren said his phone and email had not stopped ringing since he was interviewed by the Russian reporter about the motorcycle in the parking lot on Aug. 12. The older motorcycle that Warren bought two years ago has a tag of around $7,000, Warren said.

The new Ural Gear Up with sidecar has a value of $22,000, Warren said.

It’s unclear where the motorcycle was made. Ural, which was founded in the far west of Siberia in 1941, is now in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan. The manufacturer has a U.S. distribution team in Woodinville, Wash.