Son of CIA Deputy Director Dies in Ukraine: He Fought for Russia
21-year-old American Michael Gloss, who signed a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry, died in the Russian-Ukrainian war. His mother Julian Gloss holds the post of deputy director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), reports Meduza.
Photo: IStock
The victim's father, Larry Gloss, is a U.S. Navy veteran and the CEO of Security Information Systems, a company that creates software for, among other things, the U.S. Department of Defense.
Traveler with conspiracy theories
Michael Gloss joined the Russian military in 2023 after traveling the world for several months. He dropped out of college and left the United States in the winter of 2023.
Gloss Jr. first lived in Italy, then went to Israel, from where he was deported. The American spent the next few months in Turkey, where he attended the Rainbow Family "Balkan Gathering" and helped eliminate the consequences of the earthquake in Hatay province.
On the subject: War in numbers: how Ukraine has changed in three years of full-scale Russian invasion
An acquaintance of Gloss, with whom he stayed in Istanbul, said that the American “constantly talked about all sorts of negative things – about poverty, about the collapse civilizations».
"Michael was convinced that Western hegemony was fading and would soon be replaced by BRICS," he noted.
Another acquaintance of Gloss in Turkey said he watched a video about Palestine and was “very angry at America.”
"Michael started thinking about going to Russia because he wanted to fight the US. I think he was heavily influenced by the videos with theories conspiracy", the man suggested.
Life in Russia
Michael Gloss arrived in Russia in August 2023. Before getting a Russian visa, he asked his friends to help him with an invitation to this country. Michael explained to them in different ways why he needed it: he told some that he wanted to learn Russian, others that he intended to obtain citizenship, and still others that he wanted to develop his environmental project.
According to data from the border service, he crossed the Georgian border with Russia on August 12.
During the month, the American visited Vladikavkaz, Taganrog, Volgograd, Moscow, and on September 1, he reported that his visa would expire in a week. On September 3, he began looking for housing in Vienna and Bratislava. Two days later, on September 5, data on Michael Gloss appeared in the EMIAS system. His address was listed as the recruitment point for contract service in the Russian army, located on Yablochkova Street, and his “apartment” was the medical examination room number 302. This address was given to foreigners who came to Moscow to sign a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry to participate in the war.
The following days, judging by the photographs, Michael Gloss spent at the Avangard training center in the Moscow region. At the same time, the American created an account on the social network VKontakte under the name Hamza Ali and joined several groups, including "Romanticism of Russian Villages" and "We Are from the USSR". He published a video titled "Putin Announced the Need to Create an Independent Palestine", as well as a video from Israel, in the caption of which he accused the Israeli military of "shelling Israeli civilians" on October 7, 2023, in Kibbutz Be'eri.
After two weeks of training, Michael Gloss's group, mostly Nepalese, was taken by bus to a military unit. He ended up in the 137th Airborne Regiment (military unit 41450 in Ryazan).
Mercenary or dreamer
Gloss left for the front in December 2023.
One of his fellow soldiers said that the American had “his own vision of how he could be useful at the front.”
“Michael studied construction and engineering in college, so inventions and innovations were on his mind,” he explained.
"If I'm not mistaken, after training he was sent to the assault units," the fellow soldier continued. At that time, units of the 137th Regiment were located northwest of Soledar in the Donetsk region.
Michael Gloss died on April 4, 2024.
"It is with great sadness that the Gloss family announces the loss of their beloved son and brother, Michael Alexander Gloss. He was born on a snowy evening on December 4, 2002, and lived a short but incredibly beautiful life until he was taken from us while traveling overseas. Michael will be remembered for his noble heart and warrior spirit," the family said in a statement about his death. obituary without mentioning that it happened in Ukraine.
That day, the Telegram channel of the 106th Division, which includes the Ryazan regiment, reported that the paratroopers were conducting an offensive in the Donetsk region - near Razdolovka and Vesyole. The exact circumstances of Gloss's death are unknown. His funeral took place in the United States eight months later - on December 21, 2024. Russian authorities contacted the American's family and stated that he died in Ukraine.
According to one Rainbow Family member, Gloss told him that he joined the Russian army to get a Russian passport, not to fight. A fellow American soldier in Ryazan assured that Michael "was an ardent supporter of Russia and loved it," and during the war "had no intention of taking up arms."
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