Ukraine War: Son of CIA director falls as a Russian soldier

Michael Gloss built forest caves as a child. He was a scout, loved football and went to the “greenest” college in the United States after school. There is a video of him that shows how he lovingly takes care of three chicks. Michael, that can be said, was Hippie. Then a year ago he fell in Ukraine. As a soldier. He had moved to war for Russia.

This now reports on the unusual path of the young, adventurous American who voluntarily joined the Russian army.

“Michael was born on a snowy evening on December 4, 2002,” writes his family. “As a boy, he was loving and curious, had a talent for building and a preference for nature and all of its creatures.” For a short moment, the 22-year-old became famous three years ago in July. At that time he was arrested in Washington at climate protests. The “Washington Post” printed a photo of him in handcuffs. His activist friends celebrated.

Many friends of Michael, to whom the portal “Istories” spoke, only talked about him in the highest tones: “He really had a wonderful heart. And he never radiated anything negative, he was really like an angel,” says Gamze, a Turkish woman whom he met at a meeting of the “Rainbow Family”. In this rainbow community, hippies, world improvers, esoterics, environmentalists, believers, unbelievers, loners and dropouts of all kinds meet worldwide.

In Hatay, in the south of Türkiye, he helped the victims of the severe earthquake of 2023. But something must have happened to Michael in the country. Later, a friend who had accommodated him Istanbul remembers: “When I last saw him, he was constantly talking about negative things like poverty and the collapse of civilizations.”

He himself complained about his home country on his telegram channel: “When I understood the US political system, I realized that violence is an essential part of it. There are too many types of violence that have been spread through wars. I mean that America taught financial war in the army today. The modern soldier is a businessman.”

Despite his activism in terms of peace and justice, he had intimate insights into the US military throughout his life. Because both parents are soldiers. His mother Juliane Gloss was the first brigade commander at the naval academy. She went through various stations in the military, switched to secret service and has been a vice director at the CIA since the beginning of 2024, a focus on digital innovation. Michael’s father Larry is also a veteran, among other things, he was involved in the US invasion of Iraq in the early 1990s.

Why Michael Gloss also became a soldier remains unclear despite the long research of “Istories”. But obviously he changed significantly on his world tour, which started after his studies. In the spring of 2023, photos show him in a long cloak, with long hair and long beard. “Everyone started calling him Jesus because he was dressed like Jesus and distributed bread,” says his well -known Gamze later.

Another former companion said to “Istories” that Michael worked as if he was under the influence of conspiracy videos. He also outraged Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. And in Russia he apparently saw an ally of the Palestinians. “He wanted to wage war against the United States,” said the acquaintance.

In August 2023, Michael from Russia reported to the Rainbow Family chat. He is a “traveler who wants to learn Russian and defeat the military-industrial complex,” he writes later. He does not have money, instead he snatches through, lives in makeshift huts. Not even a month later, on September 5, the name Michael Gloss appears in the database of the recruitment center “Emias” how “Istories” researched.

He completes the standard training for two weeks. From now on, Michael is one of more than 1,500 foreigners from 48 countries who went through the Russian recruitment center during the war in Ukraine. In pictures he can be seen in a bright red Kufiya, the Arab headscarf. On a questionnaire, he specifies “Islam” as a religion. At the latest on September 23, his unity, which almost only consists of Nepalese citizens, was brought to a military unit.

Michael will be killed on April 4, 2024. His family only learns about it much later. On that day, the 106th Air Condary Division drops paratroopers in the Donetsk area near Rozdolivka and Vesele – despite difficult terrain conditions and unfavorable positions. The exact circumstances of Michael’s death remain unknown. “He was on the way to forging his own heroism when he tragically killed in Eastern Europe,” his parents write about their son.