Russia freed American Stephen Hubbard on Wednesday, ending more than four years in Russian custody for the 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan. He was released while President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, and the Kremlin called it a goodwill gesture, NBC News reported.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that Hubbard is “on his way back home and will soon be with his family.” He said he asked Putin to free him in a phone call last week and that the U.S. gave Russia nothing in return. Hubbard was the last American the State Department had designated as wrongfully detained in Russia.
Who is Stephen Hubbard?
A retired teacher from Michigan who was living in Ukraine when Russia invaded in 2022. Russian forces detained him, and after a closed trial in 2024 a Russian court sentenced him to nearly seven years for allegedly fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine, the AP reported. He, his family and his lawyer say the charges were false. The U.S. designated him wrongfully detained under the Biden administration, and his family pushed publicly for years to get him home.
“Our family can attest that there are wonderful blessings to be found along the hard road to peace,” his family said, thanking Trump and his team.
Did the U.S. give Russia anything for Hubbard?
The White House says no, and unlike past swaps, nobody was traded back. But Trump himself linked it to his recent moves on Russia, arguing the talks would have stalled without his waiver of new sanctions. In the room with Putin, Witkoff praised him: “You are a humanitarian also, sir.”
Witkoff also brought Putin documents laying out possible approaches to ending the war in Ukraine, and said “groundwork” had been laid. A day earlier in Oslo, Ukraine presented new ideas, which a U.S. official called “meaningful progress.” Putin has said he’ll only meet Zelenskyy after a deal is done, and only in Moscow.
The BeezLoop Take
A 74-year-old American is coming home after four years in a Russian prison on charges he and his family always called false. That’s a real win, and Trump’s team deserves credit for it. Nobody should be cynical about a family getting their father back.
But “nothing in return” depends on how you count. In the last two weeks the U.S. waived sanctions, struck a diesel deal with Moscow and told Ukraine to find a new negotiator, and Trump himself tied the release to the waiver. Calling Putin a humanitarian, while his missiles hit Ukrainian cities, is a price paid in words.
The open question: was Hubbard’s release a one-time gesture, or the first step in a bigger U.S.-Russia deal, and what would Ukraine have to give up?
Also on BeezLoop: the U.S. was close to a deal to free jailed Americans, and Trump said Zelenskyy should get somebody else to negotiate.
Sources: NBC News · Associated Press, via The Durango Herald · ABC7 (video)
