Russia frees American teacher Stephen Hubbard as Witkoff meets Putin

Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired Michigan teacher held since 2022 on mercenary charges he denied, during US envoy Steve Witkoff's meeting with Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. Trump said no swap was needed.

Russia on Wednesday, Oct. 21, released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired schoolteacher from Michigan who had been imprisoned since 2022, as US special envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.

Hubbard was captured in eastern Ukraine shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 and was sentenced in 2024, after a closed trial, to nearly seven years in a penal colony on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine. He denied the charges. He was the only American held in Russia whom the State Department had formally designated as wrongfully detained.

'No swap'

"There was no 'swap' necessary for this release," President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, saying Hubbard was freed "at the request of President Donald J. Trump" and "out of respect" for him. Trump said he had asked Putin to release Hubbard during a phone call last week. "Welcome home, Stephen, it's great to have you back," he wrote.

Trump also said that if new sanctions on Russia had taken effect, "certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt." He waived some sanctions five days before the release, a move criticized in Congress, including by some Republicans.

"I wanted to thank you very much. The president sends his thanks," Witkoff told Putin. "Because of you, he's going home to his family." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin freed Hubbard on "humanitarian considerations" after the American side raised the issue.

Heading home

Video released after the release showed Hubbard meeting Witkoff and members of his team. Hubbard, who served in the US Air Force and National Guard, is in poor health and is expected to be flown to Texas for treatment at a military hospital. His sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, had said he endured "constant beatings, torture and starvation" in custody.

Hubbard is the second American Russia has freed in about two months, after Marine veteran Robert Gilman was released in August. About 10 other Americans, including dual nationals, are reportedly still held in Russia.

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