Russia has released American citizen Stephen Hubbard, 74, who had been held in a Russian penal colony after being convicted of serving as a mercenary on behalf of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the release during talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. Putin confirmed that Hubbard had been taken to Pulkovo Airport, and Witkoff said he was "going home to his family."
Hubbard, a former teacher originally from Michigan, was convicted at a closed trial in 2024 and sentenced to between seven and nearly seven years in a penal colony. He denied the charges. Russian prosecutors had accused him of serving in a defence unit in the eastern city of Izyum when he was captured by Russian forces shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The US State Department had previously classified Hubbard as "wrongfully detained." Reports indicated he had been in poor health and was expected to be flown to Texas for medical treatment.
US President Donald Trump said Hubbard was "on his way back home" and stated that the release followed a request he "made directly" to Putin during a phone call last week.
"The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return - an unprecedented situation for Russia," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "There was no 'swap' necessary for this release."
Trump also addressed criticism he had received over his decision to suspend a new round of sanctions against Russia. In a follow-up post, he claimed that "numerous people" had called him to apologize after criticising that move, arguing it had been necessary to keep negotiations on track.
"If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt," Trump wrote.
The release of Hubbard was widely seen as a goodwill gesture by Moscow toward the Trump administration as both sides continue discussions over a potential peace deal in Ukraine.
Witkoff's meeting with Putin in St. Petersburg was the ninth such encounter between the two. It came one day after Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Norway, a meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as "positive."
"He will now, armed with those ideas, be able to go to St. Petersburg and share them with the Russian side, and let's see if we can make some progress," Rubio said ahead of the talks.
Witkoff told Putin during the meeting: "We've brought some papers. It's really some ideas, some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and you'll read that at your leisure."
Putin proposed that Witkoff discuss the restoration of bilateral ties between Washington and Moscow, as well as the possibility of trilateral talks involving Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Witkoff planned to return to Oslo for further consultations after his St. Petersburg visit. Zelenskyy remained in Oslo on Wednesday, where he met with lawmakers in the Norwegian parliament.
"I think we may have entered a phase now where the Russians are also looking for opportunities for diplomacy," Store told Norway's public broadcaster on Wednesday morning.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov struck a more cautious tone, saying Moscow was willing to listen but that he did not expect any "miracle." Trump, meanwhile, reiterated on Tuesday that he wants Zelenskyy "to make a deal."
