Putin Frees American Stephen Hubbard as Trump Denies a Swap

Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that an American prisoner was free, and he said it in front of the man sent to negotiate an end to the war. Stephen Hubbard, 74, walked out of Russian custody after more than four years, and the Kremlin's own announcement made the release sound like a gift rather than a transaction. What the United States gave up, if anything, has not been described on the record by either government.

Putin Frees American Stephen Hubbard as Trump Denies a Swap

St Petersburg, Russia — Putin told a meeting at the Constantine Palace that Hubbard had been released and was already at Pulkovo Airport, according to Reuters. White House envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed the release during the same session, CBS reported. Hubbard had been held since April 2022 and was the only American in Russian custody that Washington formally designated as wrongfully detained, Reuters reported. As many as 10 other Americans, including dual nationals, remain in Russian custody, according to CBS.

Putin Announced It Himself

The setting mattered as much as the words. Putin disclosed the release as talks got underway with Witkoff at the Constantine Palace in St Petersburg, NPR reported, a session focused on American efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Russian state news agencies, citing Putin, said Hubbard was at Pulkovo Airport, according to CBS. Video of the meeting showed Witkoff thanking Putin to his face: "I wanted to thank you very much. The president sends his thanks. Our whole nation sends its thanks," Witkoff said, according to CBS. "Because of you, he's going home to his family." Witkoff went further in a second line carried by CBS: "You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian, you are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that." What Moscow has not done is explain itself. No Kremlin statement setting out why it released Hubbard has been made public.

Who Stephen Hubbard Is

Hubbard is a Michigan native and a retired school teacher who served in the US National Guard and Air Force, CBS reported. He had lived in Ukraine since 2014, in the eastern city of Izyum, according to the New York Post, citing investigators, so he was eight years into that life when the war reached him. Russian soldiers detained him on 2 April 2022, weeks after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine that February. He was 72 when he was sentenced. By the time he walked out on 21 October 2026, he had spent 1,663 days in Russian custody, more than four and a half years. Reporting on his conviction described him as the first American jailed in Russia on mercenary charges since the invasion. He appeared frail in footage of his sentencing and listened from a glass enclosure.

The Courtroom in Moscow

The case against Hubbard rested on a Russian allegation that he manned a checkpoint for mercenaries and served in a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in Izyum. Prosecutors alleged he signed a contract for about $1,000 per month, CBS reported. He pleaded guilty in September 2024 to a charge of being a mercenary, CNN reported, citing RIA Novosti. On 7 October 2024, a Moscow court sentenced him to six years and 10 months in a penal colony after a closed-door trial, CNN reported. The plea and the sentence are the record. They are not the whole story. His family has maintained his innocence throughout, and his sister has disputed the charge in blunt terms.

What Trump Says Was Given

Trump, in a Truth Social post early Wednesday, said Hubbard "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," CBS reported. Trump said Russia released Hubbard "out of respect for President Trump," and that the US "was not required to give anything in return — an unprecedented situation for Russia. There was no 'swap' necessary for this release," according to CBS. Those are the president's characterizations. They are not established fact, and no American official has described the terms on the record. The New York Times reported that Hubbard was released unilaterally rather than as part of a prisoner exchange. In the same post Trump said the release "should have taken place long ago" and criticized the Biden administration, saying Hubbard was "taken four years ago by Russia during the Biden Administration." Hubbard was formally designated wrongfully detained under the Biden administration, NPR reported.

The Waiver Five Days Before

Hubbard's release came five days after Trump announced that his administration would waive some sanctions on Russia just before they were due to take effect, CBS reported. That decision was praised by Putin and criticized harshly by members of Congress, including some Republicans, according to CBS. Trump himself drew the connection in a subsequent post, saying "numerous people" who had called for the sanctions to take effect as previously planned had "called to apologize to President Trump in that they didn't know that he was negotiating the release of Stephen Hubbard, a truly big and important deal for the U.S. If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt," CBS reported. That is the president's account of the timing. It is not a confirmed account of the price. The criticism of the waiver stands on its own and is bipartisan.

What Witkoff Said Across the Table

Witkoff came to St Petersburg carrying more than one file. A US official said the discussions "covered key elements of a comprehensive peace framework, including long-term security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic and prosperity plan, and a broader European security architecture designed to create lasting stability," CNN reported. Witkoff said in televised remarks at the start of the meeting that he hoped to discuss the resumption of trilateral talks involving the US, Russia and Ukraine that would allow technical teams to discuss next steps toward a peace settlement, the Associated Press reported. CNN reported, citing TASS, that the two men also discussed Russia's willingness to help resolve the war in Iran and potential Russian fertilizer exports to the US. Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo on 20 October, in talks a US official described as "constructive," the BBC reported.

The Americans Still Inside

The headline is one man. The ledger is longer. As many as 10 other Americans, including dual nationals, remain in Russian custody, CBS reported. Not all of them carry the wrongfully detained designation. Aleksandr Antonov, arrested last year and sentenced to six years, has not been declared wrongfully detained, and his family argues he was detained because he is a US citizen, according to CBS. The State Department maintains a Level 4 "Do Not Travel" advisory for Russia, warning US nationals against all travel because of the risk of wrongful detention, arbitrary enforcement of local laws and limited consular assistance, CBS reported. The Trump administration last year created a designation for countries deemed "state sponsors of wrongful detention," giving the State Department expanded authority to impose sanctions, export controls and travel restrictions on countries that use detained Americans as political leverage. It has been applied to Iran in February and Afghanistan in March, but not to Russia, CBS reported.

What the Framework Is Supposed to Contain

American officials have described the framework's outline, not its text. A US official told CNN that Witkoff was visiting Russia to "test" whether a new peace plan can form the basis for peace talks. A US official later said the Oslo meeting was "very productive and constructive" and that there was a "strong alignment at the working level" between the US, Ukraine and Europe on "next steps," the BBC reported. Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who took part in the Oslo talks alongside the Norwegian prime minister, said "genuine progress" had been made on proposals to achieve peace but gave no details and warned patience would be needed, the BBC reported. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin will listen to what Witkoff offers while ruling out "any political concessions," the BBC reported. Putin is yet to publicly comment on the peace proposals. Russia currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, the BBC reported.

What His Family Has Said All Along

Hubbard's family had little contact with him while he was detained and have maintained his innocence, CBS reported. His sister, Trisha Hubbard Fox, pushed back on the charges in 2024, in remarks that remain the family's fullest public statement on the case. "Russia's prosecutor is lying," she said on Facebook, according to CNN, in a quote carried by UPI. "Steve was never a mercenary. He was an English teacher teaching English in foreign countries." That statement was made in 2024, at the time of the sentencing. It was not a reaction to Wednesday's release, and no statement from the family about the release has been made public. The distinction matters. The record of the family's position is a record of denial, maintained since his detention in 2022, against a Russian court's finding.

The Flight Home and the Questions

Hubbard is in poor health and was expected to be flown to Texas for treatment at a military hospital, CBS reported. The Trump administration said he was on his way home and would soon reunite with his family. Neither the landing time nor the location in Texas has been disclosed. His release follows the return of American Robert Gilman, freed from Russian custody on 11 August 2026 after his health deteriorated to a life-threatening condition, a former Marine held more than four years and granted a humanitarian pardon after a direct appeal by Trump to Putin, CBS reported. Hubbard is the second American freed from Russian custody in about two months. Early last year Russia released American school teacher Marc Fogel, and in 2024 journalist Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan were among those released in a complicated multi-country prisoner swap, CBS reported. What remains unanswered is what, if anything, Washington conceded, and whether the waiver five days earlier was leverage, goodwill or coincidence.

By Jessica Ali, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: NPR, CBS News, CNN, the BBC, the Associated Press, Reuters, the New York Times, UPI and Benzinga. Photographs: Moscow City Court Press Service/Handout/Reuters via CBS News; Kremlin handout and Reuters via CNN.