Russia frees U.S. citizen held since 2022 after plea from Trump

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U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard, who was held by Russia since 2022, has been released and is on his way home to the U.S., President Donald Trump said Wednesday.

“Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family,” Trump said in a post on social media, adding that the decision came after a request he made during a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

Trump said Hubbard’s release was not part of a broader prisoner exchange.

Hubbard’s attorney, Martin De Luca, said he was aware of reports of his client’s release and expected him to depart imminently. “We are awaiting confirmation from the U.S. Government,” he said. The State Department did not immediately reply to an overnight request for comment.

Speaking during a meeting with Putin Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff praised the Russian leader as a “humanitarian” for releasing Hubbard.

“You are a humanitarian sir, I salute that and I commend you and I thank you again,” Witkoff said. Putin has presided over a nearly five-year war against Ukraine that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and is facing an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for war crimes related to his role in the deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Hubbard, 74, was released at a moment when Russia and Ukraine appear to be in a fierce tug of war for the Trump administration’s favor amid its efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Trump has recently criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called for his ouster, and has portrayed Moscow as more willing to negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Trump also signed a diesel deal with Russia and waived punishing sanctions against Moscow just days before they were due to go into effect, stirring bipartisan outrage in the U.S. and Ukraine. Russia has welcomed the latest moves as a sign that Western support for Ukraine is crumbling.

On Wednesday, Trump suggested his decision to waive sanctions against Russia was linked to Hubbard’s release. “If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt,” he said.

Putin said Hubbard is at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, in remarks broadcast by state media as he met with Witkoff. A day earlier, Trump said he had been speaking to Putin about Hubbard’s release.

“I’d love to get him back,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday. “It’s time to have Mr. Hubbard back.”

Hubbard, originally from Big Rapids, Mich., worked as an English teacher abroad for decades, including in Japan and Cyprus. He had lived in Ukraine since 2014.

He was captured in the Ukrainian city of Izyum in April 2022, a few weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. It’s not clear how he was transferred to Russia.

In October 2024, Hubbard was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison in a Moscow court, after a trial that took place behind closed doors.

Russian prosecutors alleged he signed up to fight for Ukraine in February 2022 and received training, weapons and payment for taking part, according to Russian state media reports. His family cast doubt on his confession, describing him to Reuters as a “pacifist” who had never owned a gun.

Witkoff’s visit to St. Petersburg comes a day after he met with Zelensky in Norway alongside Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

In St. Petersburg on Wednesday, Witkoff told Putin he hoped he would consider trilateral talks to discuss a “settlement” for the war in Ukraine. Putin thanked Trump for his efforts and said he wanted to discuss how to restore economic cooperation with the U.S.

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