Stephen Hubbard freed by Russia as Witkoff meets Putin

Moscow has released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American who spent over four years in custody, envoy Steve Witkoff told Vladimir Putin.

The news came on Wednesday in St. Petersburg. Putin told the meeting that Hubbard waited at Pulkovo airport, where Witkoff had landed hours before.

Witkoff thanked the Russian leader on camera. “Because of you, he’s going home to his family,” he said.

Who is Stephen Hubbard

Stephen Hubbard taught school in Michigan after service in the National Guard and the Air Force. Hubbard worked abroad for decades as an English teacher. In 2014, he relocated to Izyum, in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow’s troops took that city early in the 2022 invasion. Officials there say they captured Hubbard soon afterward, and they accuse him of staffing a checkpoint for mercenaries.

State media reported another claim from prosecutors: that he fought for Ukraine’s army on a contract worth about $1,000 a month. In 2024, a court handed him nearly seven years in a penal colony.

His family denies the charge. His sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, called the accusation a lie. Relatives heard little from him while he sat in a cell.

Why the Stephen Hubbard release matters

The State Department had named Hubbard as wrongfully detained, and no other American in Russia carries that label now. Even so, up to 10 more Americans, some of them dual nationals, are still behind bars there.

Hubbard is in poor health. Officials expected a flight to Texas, where he would receive treatment at a military hospital.

A day earlier, President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he had raised the case with Putin at length. “It’s time to have Mr. Hubbard back,” he said.

Earlier this year, in August, Russia let Robert Gilman go for humanitarian reasons. The Marine veteran arrived home severely emaciated.

Talks on the Ukraine war

Witkoff travelled to St. Petersburg for talks on the war in Ukraine. Jared Kushner was expected to join virtually. The American team had first met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in Oslo.

Witkoff told Putin that groundwork exists for ending the fighting. He said he brought documents that outline possible approaches, and he hoped Putin would consider resuming trilateral talks.

Zelenskyy said a trilateral leaders’ meeting was one of the important ideas raised in Oslo. Putin has insisted that any meeting with him can happen only after a deal, and in Moscow, which Ukraine rejects.

Meanwhile, Trump said he wants Zelenskyy to make a deal. He also said Washington has gotten nothing back from Kyiv except grief and monetary loss.

The release gives the White House a win after criticism at home and abroad over its tilt away from Kyiv. Earlier this month, Trump struck a diesel agreement with Moscow and put new sanctions on hold.

Officials have not said what, if anything, Washington gave in return. His family has always maintained his innocence. For now, the freeing of Stephen Hubbard marks a rare sign of warmer ties between the rivals.