Retired American teacher Stephen Hubbard has been released from Russian custody after more than four years in detention, according to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, who announced the development during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
The Associated Press reported that Russia released Hubbard, a retired American teacher who had been imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. Witkoff confirmed the release at the meeting with Putin, according to the AP.
CBS News reported that Hubbard, a U.S. citizen, had been jailed in Russia for more than four years after being accused of fighting for Ukraine. The network said Witkoff confirmed the release Wednesday during the meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg.
ABC News reported that the detained American was released by Russia after Trump's special envoy met with Putin, citing reports in Russian state-run media. The outlet identified Hubbard as a seventy-four-year-old retired teacher from Michigan who had been in Russian detention since 2022.
Witkoff's own remarks at the meeting, captured in the CBS News video transcript, offered a direct thank-you to the Russian president. "First of all, I want to thank you very much," Witkoff said. "The president sends his thanks on all nation, sends their thanks because of Steven Hubbard and he's going home to his family and actually met with his son just the other day. He's a priest, he's met him in the Greek Orthodox Church and he taught quite a good about you. So the first thing I wanted to tell you was thank you. He's a 75 year old man and you talk so much about my president, President Trump, being humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also sir. I salute that. I commend you when I thank you again."
Hubbard's family reacted to the news as it broke. According to ABC News, Hubbard's sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, said she was thanking Trump "for being the hand of God and bringing Stephen Hubbard home."
"He's been gone a long, long time. Thank you President Trump for caring for everyday Americans," she said, adding that the development was "awesome" and that the "Lord has given me peace."
Fox told ABC News she had not yet spoken to her brother or to U.S. officials and that she learned about Hubbard's release from the media. She said Hubbard will be flown to San Antonio, where there is a military base that released Americans are usually brought to.
ABC News reported that Witkoff landed in St. Petersburg on Wednesday morning, a Kremlin aide confirmed, ahead of the planned meeting with Putin. The envoy thanked Putin for freeing Hubbard, according to a readout of the meeting published by the Kremlin. Putin said Hubbard, who was detained in eastern Ukraine in April 2022, was taken to St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport, the readout said.
Trump later wrote in a post to social media that he asked Putin to release Hubbard in a phone call that took place last week. "Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family," Trump wrote. The U.S. "was not required to give anything in return -- an unprecedented situation for Russia," Trump added. "There was no 'swap' necessary for this release."
The president then posted to social media again defending his recent decision to waive numerous sanctions on Russia. "If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt," Trump wrote of the discussions over Hubbard's release.
Jack Posobiec, who has three million followers on X, posted the breaking development Wednesday morning: "BREAKING: American teacher Stephen Hubbard released by Russia, Steve Witkoff meets Putin in St Petersburg to bring him home."
The release drew coverage across major networks within hours. ABC News' post said the detained American was released by Russia after Trump's special envoy met with Putin, attributing the initial word to reports in Russian state-run media. CBS News posted that Hubbard had been released from custody, with Witkoff confirming the development during the meeting with Putin. The AP reported that Russia released Hubbard, a retired American teacher imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, with Witkoff announcing the release at the meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg.
ABC News' on-air panel discussion of the release noted additional context. The network reported that Hubbard is the only American held in Russia officially designated as wrongfully detained by the State Department. The panel said Hubbard was taken by Kremlin troops in early 2022 as they occupied parts of Ukraine, and that Russia convicted him of murder, which his family and Ukraine deny. He had been in a penal colony for the last two years, according to the panel.
The ABC panel also noted that while Hubbard may be the only U.S. citizen designated by the State Department as wrongfully detained, there are at least fifteen other Americans still being held there. The panel discussed Trump's claim that the U.S. was not required to give anything in return for the release, noting that significant sanctions on Russia approved by Congress were blocked by the president this week.
Next News Network could not independently verify the circumstances of Hubbard's release, including the terms described by the president and the envoy's characterization of Putin.
Our Take
The release of Stephen Hubbard is being presented as a straightforward humanitarian victory, and for his family, it is exactly that: a seventy-four-year-old retired teacher from Michigan is coming home after more than four years in a Russian penal colony. But conservatives should look closely at how this was achieved. Witkoff stood beside Vladimir Putin and called him a humanitarian, and President Trump waived sanctions approved by Congress while insisting no swap was necessary. The White House may frame this as an unprecedented concession from Moscow, but the optics of an American envoy saluting a man whose war has left hundreds of thousands dead are difficult to ignore. Meanwhile, at least fifteen other Americans remain in Russian custody, and the question of what happens next for them is the one that matters most.
