United States President, Donald Trump, has announced the release of 74-year-old American citizen Stephen Hubbard, who was imprisoned in Russia for allegedly fighting for Ukraine, saying the former teacher is on his way home.
Russian President Vladimir Putin disclosed that Hubbard had been taken to Pulkovo Airport during a meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg, according to Russian state media.
Trump said the release followed a request he made directly to Putin during a conversation last week, adding that no prisoner exchange was involved.
Writing on social media after Russian state media reported the development, Trump said, “There was no “swap” necessary for this release.”
Hubbard, a former teacher from Michigan, was sentenced to nearly seven years in a Russian penal colony in 2024 after prosecutors accused him of serving in a Ukrainian defence unit in the eastern city of Izyum.
He was reportedly captured by Russian forces shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The US State Department had previously designated him as “wrongfully detained”, while Trump indicated on Tuesday that his release could be imminent.
“Watch what happens,” Trump told reporters, adding, “we have been focused on Hubbard”.
According to CBS News, the BBC’s US media partner, Hubbard had been in poor health and was expected to be flown to Texas for medical treatment.
Russian state media also reported that Witkoff thanked Putin for Hubbard’s release and, on behalf of Trump, for an agreement reached earlier this month allowing Russian diesel exports.
Putin said the first shipment under the agreement would leave Russia “in two to three days”, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
The diesel agreement has further strained relations between Washington and Kyiv, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressing anger over the deal.
The development came amid growing tensions over Trump’s suspension of some Russian sanctions and his call for Ukraine to elect a new leader.
Ukraine also accused Washington of halting intelligence sharing on deadly Russian attacks, a claim the US rejected as “scandalous”.
Zelensky said on Tuesday that intelligence sharing had resumed following talks with Witkoff in Oslo, which Washington described as “positive”.
During Wednesday’s meeting in St Petersburg, Witkoff told Putin that the diesel agreement demonstrated the benefits of cooperation, saying, “Your decision to remove export controls on diesel oil from Russia, not just to the US but also to the world at large in the midst of an economic shock, I think that was really important that that happened.”
He added, “I know [President Trump] is deeply grateful for it.”
