Russia frees Stephen Hubbard, the American the U.S. had designated as wrongfully detained, as envoy Witkoff meets Putin

Russia released American Stephen Hubbard on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social, writing that Hubbard “was just released from prison” and “is on his way back home and will soon be with his family.”¹²

Trump wrote that the release came at his request, “made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week.” He said the United States “was not required to give anything in return” and that “There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release.”¹

The release was announced Wednesday during a meeting between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin in St. Petersburg, CBS News reported. Russian state news agencies quoted Putin as saying Hubbard was at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, and CBS reported that Hubbard was expected to be taken to a military hospital in Texas for treatment.²

Hubbard’s sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, told ABC News on Wednesday that she had learned of the release from the media and had not yet spoken with her brother or with U.S. officials. She thanked Trump, ABC reported.³

Who Hubbard is

The Associated Press described Hubbard as a 74-year-old former teacher from Michigan. Russian authorities charged him with fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, and he was sentenced in 2024, after a trial closed to the public, to nearly seven years in prison, the AP reported. Prosecutors said he had entered into a contract with Ukraine’s military, according to the AP.⁴

The U.S. government designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained during the Biden administration, the AP reported. CBS reported that no other American held in Russia had been formally declared wrongfully detained by the State Department.⁴²

What each side said

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media that the American side had raised Hubbard’s release for some time and that Putin decided to free him for “humanitarian considerations,” the AP reported.⁴

“You are a humanitarian also, sir,” Witkoff told Putin, according to the AP.⁴

Five days before the release, Trump announced that his administration would waive some sanctions on Russia shortly before they were scheduled to begin, CBS reported.²

In a second post, Trump wrote that people who had asked for sanctions to be imposed on Russia right away had called to apologize, “in that they didn’t know that he was negotiating the release of Stephen Hubbard.” He added: “If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt.”⁵

Americans still held

The AP reported that Hubbard was the second American freed by Russia in about two months, after Marine veteran Robert Gilman was released in August, and that other Americans remain jailed in Russia. Counts differ: Global Reach, a group that works to free Americans detained abroad, represents five Americans held in Russia, the AP reported, while CBS reported that as many as 10 other Americans, including dual nationals, remain in Russian custody.⁴²

What the records do not show

• As of 9 a.m. Eastern on Oct. 21, SignalData found no State Department statement on the release; the account of the release comes from the president’s posts and news reports.¹
• Trump’s posts do not say when the telephone call with Putin took place beyond “last week,” and they do not name the sanctions he refers to.¹⁵
• The State Department’s wrongful-detention designation and the Russian court’s sentence are described here as the AP and CBS reported them; SignalData did not open those records.⁴²
• The reports do not give the same count of Americans still held in Russia.⁴²