Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the release of American citizen Stephen Hubbard on Wednesday during diplomatic discussions in St. Petersburg, ending four years of imprisonment for the Michigan native.
Multiple U.S. officials confirmed to PBS News that the 74-year-old retired educator was set free without any reciprocal prisoner exchange. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff received Hubbard in Russia and prepared to accompany him back to the United States, where a U.S. official told PBS News he was in “OK condition” and scheduled for medical assessment.
From Eastern Ukraine to Russian Custody
Hubbard grew up in Big Rapids, Michigan, and completed service in the U.S. Air Force and the National Guard, according to military files cited by The New York Times. After completing a graduate degree in English, he taught abroad in Japan for 25 years before relocating to Cyprus and ultimately moving to the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum in 2014 alongside his Ukrainian partner.
Russian military personnel seized Izyum in the opening months of Moscow’s 2022 invasion. Russian state media reported that forces arrested Hubbard in April of that year, accusing him of staffing a military checkpoint for Ukrainian forces. His family and legal team repeatedly rejected those allegations.
His sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, told Reuters that Hubbard lived on a modest monthly pension of about $300, maintained few neighborhood contacts, and was unlikely to have taken up weapons in his seventies. In 2025, defense attorney Martin De Luca told Reuters that Hubbard maintained he had never served in any military unit and that armed Russian personnel had simply seized him from his private residence.
Following a closed trial, a Moscow court found Hubbard guilty of serving as a mercenary in October 2024, imposing a prison term of six years and 10 months. Washington designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained in January 2025, empowering federal negotiators to seek his freedom even as the State Department reported that Moscow continuously denied American officials consular access.
St. Petersburg Meeting and Diplomatic Movement
Russian state television aired footage Wednesday showing Witkoff greeting Hubbard warmly after concluding talks with the Russian president. Witkoff told Hubbard that Putin had passed along personal blessings and positive wishes, to which Hubbard responded with surprise, PBS News reported.
During their formal meeting, Putin noted that American leadership placed special priority on the matter for humanitarian considerations. Witkoff commended Putin during the exchange, remarking, “You are a humanitarian also, sir,” according to the PBS News report.
The release coincided with broader discussions regarding stalled international diplomacy. Putin voiced interest in rebuilding economic ties and indicated openness to restarting diplomatic contacts with both Washington and Kyiv. In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated Wednesday that trilateral leadership talks would serve as an important path forward, even as fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces continues.
