Russia Releases US Citizen Stephen Hubbard

Russia has released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired American schoolteacher who had been in Russian custody since April 2022 and was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison over alleged mercenary activity in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday, October 21, that Hubbard was at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport, revealing it at the start of his meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff. Putin gave no further details about the release.

Background to the Release

A day earlier, US President Donald Trump said he had raised Hubbard’s case with Putin and hinted at a breakthrough, telling reporters to “stick with me”. Witkoff was travelling to Russia for further talks on ending the war in Ukraine, after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders in Oslo on Tuesday. Hubbard was the only US prisoner held by Russia whom Washington had designated as “wrongfully detained” at the time of his release.

The Case

• A Moscow court convicted Hubbard in October 2024 of mercenary activity after a closed-door trial and sentenced him to six years and 10 months. Russian prosecutors alleged he joined a Ukrainian territorial defence unit.

• His family and US lawyer disputed the account, and his lawyer said he denied belonging to any military unit.

• Washington designated him wrongfully detained in January 2025, which allowed it to pursue negotiations for his release.

Hubbard grew up in Michigan, served in the US Air Force and National Guard, worked as an English teacher in Japan for 25 years, and settled in the Ukrainian city of Izyum in 2014.