Russia on Wednesday freed an American who had been jailed for more than four years on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, a deal completed during a visit by a top US envoy and at a time when President Donald Trump has taken a series of actions meant to benefit Moscow.
Trump told reporters at the White House that he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin during a recent call to free Stephen Hubbard and that, unlike previous releases, the US did not have to give up anyone in return.
"He is the happiest man around," Trump said of Hubbard, describing the 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan as a "very high-quality, innocent man." Hubbard's legal team denied the Russian accusations, saying he was not involved in any military activity.
The release occurred during a visit to St. Petersburg by US envoy Steve Witkoff, who in a face-to-face interaction with Putin praised the Russian leader as a "humanitarian" as the men held talks about Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and as Trump simultaneously pushes Kyiv to make a deal that stops the fighting.
Hubbard, who before his arrest had lived in Ukraine for years, was sentenced in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison during closed court proceedings. Prosecutors said he had signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia's invasion in 2022, and that he fought alongside Kyiv's forces until being captured two months later.
The US government under President Joe Biden's administration designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained. His family also disputed the Russian allegations.
"He was just for bait. It was all about bait. And that's why they kidnap Americans," his sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, said in an interview with The Associated Press. She said she expected Hubbard to stay with her in Colorado.
"Steven James Hubbard is the face of America," she said. "They could do that to anybody. They just happened to see him. 'Oh, that's an American, let's go get him.'"
Witkoff, a key Trump administration figure who has tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement to end a war that will hit the five-year mark in February 2027, thanked Putin for releasing Hubbard, telling him, "Because of you, he's going home to his family."
"You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir," Witkoff said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media Wednesday that Hubbard's release was "raised by the American side for a certain time," and Putin decided to free the man out of "humanitarian considerations."
Speaking to reporters after the talks, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said the Kremlin leader had pardoned Hubbard, who upon his release was taken to St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport for Witkoff to bring him home to the United States.
Video showed Witkoff and Hubbard shaking hands, with the newly released American thanking the envoy. Witkoff introduced Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev to Hubbard and described him as someone "who had a lot to do with this happening."
"We just met President Putin, he sends you blessings and wishes you good things," Witkoff added.
Hubbard, a US Air Force veteran, taught English overseas and retired in 2012 to Cyprus, where one of his sons is an Orthodox Christian priest. He later moved to Ukraine to be with a woman he had met, his lawyers said, remaining in the country after the relationship ended and living there at the time of Russia's 2022 invasion.
His case was taken up by lawyers at the US-based law firm of Boies Schiller Flexner and the Russian firm of EPAM Law, which together had represented Marc Fogel, the American teacher freed from Russian custody last year, and worked for his release.
"They thought they weren't going to see him again alive, and Stephen didn't think he was going to come out of there alive," Martin De Luca, one of Hubbard's lawyers at the Boies Schiller firm, said in an interview about Hubbard's family. "Obviously, they're overjoyed, but they feel very much like it's a miracle."
His sister said she had spoken with Hubbard after his release. "He was just laughing. He said, 'I can't believe this is happening,'" Hubbard Fox said of her brother.
The release occurred at a dynamic moment in relations between the United States, Ukraine and Russia, with the Washington-Kyiv relationship being roiled by fresh tensions at the same time that the Trump administration has advanced policies that aid Putin.
Those include Trump's move last week to waive sanctions on Russia imposed by a bill that Congress overwhelmingly passed to support Ukraine.
Named after the late South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, the legislation targeted the flow of financial resources fueling Moscow's war. That decision followed Trump's announcement of a deal to import Russian diesel fuel in a long-shot effort to curb high gas prices ahead of next month's US midterm elections.
Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Norway on Tuesday. He was expected to exchange ideas from that meeting, as well as proposals from European and American colleagues, in his talks with Russian leaders in St. Petersburg.
Hubbard is the second American freed by Russia in roughly two months, following the release in August of Marine veteran Robert Gilman, who had been gravely ill and was imprisoned on disputed charges of assaulting a police officer.
Other Americans, including some with serious illnesses, remain jailed in Russia. Hubbard was the last remaining American designated as wrongfully detained, although advocates say that label should be applied to other prisoners.
Russia reported more arrests of foreigners in recent days. The FSB security service said Wednesday it detained a German national suspected of mercenary activities and last week announced arrests of a Swedish national suspected of sabotage and a Japanese journalist accused of espionage.
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