Michael Gloss in Moscow, 2023. Photo: IStories
The 21-year-old son of the CIA’s deputy director for digital innovation died last year in the war in Ukraine while fighting alongside Russian forces, investigative news outlet IStories revealed on Friday.
According to the IStories investigation, Michael Gloss died in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on 4 April 2024 while fighting for the Russian army. He was only buried in the US eight months after his death, his family having been informed of his death just two months beforehand.
Gloss was born into a family of US Navy personnel in 2002. His mother, Juliane Gallina, was appointed CIA deputy director for digital innovation in February 2024. His father, Larry Gloss, is known to have fought in Iraq.
An active participant in student anti-war and climate demonstrations, and protests in favour of women’s rights, Gloss dropped out of college in 2023 to travel the world, eventually landing in Moscow. During his time in Russia, Gloss subscribed to groups about Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin on popular Russian social media platform VK, and published videos of Vladimir Putin.
A friend of Gloss’s told IStories that his understanding of the world changed after he left the US. He began to talk about the “collapse of civilisations” and Western hegemony, which he said would soon be replaced by the BRICS countries.
Gloss signed a contract at a military enlistment office in the Russian capital in September 2023, and after two weeks of basic training was assigned to the 137th Ryazan Airborne Regiment.
A serviceman who served with Gloss told IStories that he was sent to an assault squad on the frontline around December 2023. At the time of Gloss’s death, the regiment was taking part in an offensive in the Donetsk region, though the exact circumstances of his death are unknown.
