U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard released by Russia after years in jail, and Trump says "no 'swap'"
Stephen Hubbard, a U.S. citizen who was jailed in Russia for more than four years after being accused of fighting for Ukraine, has been released from custody, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed Wednesday during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.
President Trump said in social media posts that Putin agreed to release Hubbard at his request, with "no 'swap' necessary," though he also said the American would not have been released had the White House not stopped new, severe sanctions targeting Russia from taking effect at the end of last week.
Trump administration officials, including Witkoff, were in St. Petersburg Wednesday for talks with Putin and other senior Russian officials that focused on the Ukraine war, but included other matters. Russian state news agencies, citing Putin, said Hubbard was at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport.
Video from the meeting showed Witkoff thanking Putin for freeing the American.
"I wanted to thank you very much. The president sends his thanks. Our whole nation sends it's thanks," Witkoff said. "Because of you, he's going home to his family."
Hubbard, a 74-year-old Michigan native, was the last American in Russia whom the State Department had formally declared wrongfully detained. As many as 10 other Americans, including dual nationals, remain in Russian custody.
Hubbard, who is in poor health, was expected to be flown to Texas for treatment at a military hospital.
President Trump hinted at a possible breakthrough in the case on Tuesday, telling reporters in the Oval Office he had personally pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure Hubbard's release.
In a statement posted on his Truth Social platform early Wednesday, Mr. Trump 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."
Mr. Trump said in his post that Russia released Hubbard "out of respect for President Trump," and the U.S. "was not required to give anything in return — an unprecedented situation for Russia. There was no 'swap' necessary for this release."
The American's release came five days after Mr. Trump announced that his administration would waive some sanctions on Russia just before they were due to take effect. That decision by the president was praised by Putin but criticized harshly by members of Congress, including some Republicans.
In a subsequent post on Truth, Mr. Trump did link Hubbard's release to the easing of U.S. sanctions on Russia, claiming "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."
A retired school teacher who served in the U.S. National Guard and Air Force, Hubbard was captured in Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. Russian authorities accused him of manning a checkpoint for mercenaries. He was sentenced in 2024 to almost seven years in a penal colony.
Hubbard's family had little contact with him while he was detained, and they have maintained his innocence.
Hubbard's release follows the return of American Robert Gilman, who was freed from Russian custody in August after his health deteriorated to a life-threatening condition. A former Marine who spent more than four years imprisoned in Russia, Gilman was granted a humanitarian pardon following a direct appeal by Mr. Trump to Putin.
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 from Russian custody in a complicated multi-country prisoner swap.
The State Department maintains a Level 4 "Do Not Travel" advisory for Russia, warning U.S. nationals against all travel to the country due to the risk of wrongful detention, arbitrary enforcement of local laws and limited U.S. consular assistance.
The Trump administration last year established a new designation for countries that are deemed "state sponsors of wrongful detention," CBS News previously reported. The measure gives the State Department expanded authority to impose sanctions, export controls and travel restrictions on countries that use detained Americans as political leverage.
Despite its lengthy history of imprisoning Americans on questionable charges, Russia has not faced the designation, which was applied to Iran in February and Afghanistan in March.
Some Americans jailed in Russia have not been declared wrongfully detained by the U.S. government, including Aleksandr Antonov, who was arrested in Russia last year and sentenced to six years in prison.
His family argues that he was detained because he is a U.S. citizen, and they have urged the State Department to prioritize his case. CBS News reported earlier this year on an internal debate within the department over whether to designate him as wrongfully detained.
