Russia Frees 74-Year-Old American Stephen Hubbard During Witkoff’s Talks With Putin

Russia freed Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan imprisoned for more than four years on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff announced Wednesday during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.

Witkoff thanked Putin at the meeting in the Constantine Palace: “I want to thank you very much, the president sends his thanks … the whole nation sends their thanks because of Stephen Hubbard. Because of you, he’s going home to his family.”

Putin said Hubbard was at Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg, the same airport Witkoff landed at earlier on Wednesday, and had decided to release him “for humanitarian reasons,” according to Russian state media cited by CNN. CNN reported it could not immediately confirm Hubbard’s whereabouts and had asked the U.S. State Department for comment.

The release opened the ninth in-person meeting between Witkoff and Putin, held as Washington pushes to end the war in Ukraine. Witkoff flew into Russia’s second city on Wednesday morning, a day after what a U.S. official called “constructive” talks in Oslo with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders of Finland and Norway, and European and NATO representatives.

Trump said Tuesday he had raised the idea of freeing Hubbard with Putin directly. In a social media post on Wednesday, he wrote that Hubbard “was just released from prison, at the request of President Donald J. Trump, made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week. Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family.” He said the U.S. gave Russia nothing in return “out of respect for President Trump,” and added that Hubbard should have been returned long ago through the Biden Administration, which he said “got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin.”

A teacher detained in 2022

Hubbard spent decades abroad as an English teacher and moved to the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum in 2014. The city was occupied by Russian forces at the start of the war in 2022. Russian prosecutors alleged he fought in Izyum for the Ukrainian military after signing a contract for about $1,000 a month; his sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, said the accusation was a lie. The U.S. State Department designated him as wrongfully detained.

Hubbard was first detained in April 2022 and later sentenced to six years and 10 months on charges whose veracity his family and U.S.-based lawyer question, Reuters reported.

A path toward trilateral talks

During the St. Petersburg meeting, Witkoff implored Putin to consider resuming trilateral Russia-U.S.-Ukraine talks where technical issues could be discussed, according to CNN. A U.S. official said the aim was to “create a pathway toward direct trilateral and broader multilateral negotiations,” and that Tuesday’s Oslo talks had covered “key elements of a comprehensive peace framework,” including security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic plan and a broader European security architecture, making “meaningful progress.”

Zelensky said he hoped to discuss the main issues on how to end the war during a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump. The Kremlin has repeatedly said any Putin-Zelensky meeting would need to be painstakingly prepared in advance by aides. Putin has shown few signs of compromising on central war aims that, according to Reuters, include full Russian control of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine and no NATO membership for Kyiv.

The encounter comes as U.S.-Ukraine ties have deteriorated since Trump announced a diesel export deal with Russia earlier this month to help lower prices in the United States. Ukraine has complained of disruption to some intelligence sharing and to its use of the Starshield military satellite system, though Zelensky said Tuesday’s Oslo meeting had reached an agreement to resolve those issues.

CNN also noted that several other Americans remain imprisoned in Russia, and that Robert Gilman, a Marine veteran, was released in August for humanitarian reasons amid severe health concerns.

Reporting based on coverage by CNN and Reuters.