Russia Frees American Stephen Hubbard, Jailed Over Fighting for Ukraine, After Trump Asked Putin Directly
Trump says no swap was needed. Envoy Steve Witkoff thanked Putin in person. Hubbard, a 75-year-old Michigan man, had been sentenced to almost seven years on mercenary charges.
Russia has released a retired American teacher it imprisoned for fighting alongside Ukraine, and President Trump says it did so because he asked.
Trump announced Stephen Hubbard's release Wednesday morning on Truth Social. "Stephen Hubbard, taken four years ago by Russia during the Biden Administration, was just released from prison, at the request of President Donald J. Trump, made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week," he wrote. Fox News and The Associated Press report the details.
No swap. Trump wrote that "the United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return." He added: "There was no 'swap' necessary for this release. This major return should have taken place long ago through the Biden Administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin." Fox does not report any exchange, but those statements come from Trump.
The meeting. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff told Putin about Hubbard during a Wednesday meeting. "Because of you, he's going home to his family," Witkoff said. He noted that Hubbard is 75 and called Putin a "humanitarian." Trump said Tuesday he had been talking to Putin "at length" about Hubbard and had asked him to release him.
The sanctions argument. In a second post, Trump said "numerous people, who requested that sanctions be immediately imposed on Russia, have called to apologize" because they did not know he was negotiating Hubbard's release. He wrote that sanctions "certainly" would have halted the talks. The report does not name those people. The claim lands amid the debate over his waiver of Russian sanctions under a law backed by Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Who Hubbard is. Fox describes him as a Michigan man sentenced in 2024 to almost seven years. Prosecutors said he signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and fought alongside them until he was captured two months later. Russia's mercenary charge is the Russian government's characterization. Trump said in a third post, "Biden should have done the Hubbard release long ago! What a difference a President makes!"
What we do not know. The report does not say where Hubbard is now, his health, or when he will be with his family beyond Trump's line that he is "on his way back home." The Kremlin's account of the release was not in the report we read.