Russia on Wednesday freed retired American teacher Stephen Hubbard who had been imprisoned on charges of fighting as a Ukraine mercenary, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said.
The BBC reports Hubbard has been taken to Pulkovo Airport ahead of his repatriation, Witkoff outlined after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.
The meeting, which Jared Kushner was expected to join virtually, comes after the American negotiators met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
Originally from Michigan, Hubbard was 72 when he was sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony in 2024.
Russian prosecutors had accused him of serving in a defence unit in the eastern city of Izyum when he was captured by Russian forces two years earlier, the BBC report sets out.
The U.S. State Department had previously classified Hubbard as “wrongfully detained.”
As Breitbart News reported, Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Mike Crapo (R-ID), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, marked 2026 Hostage Week by renewing calls for the release of Hubbard.
AP reports President Donald Trump foreshadowed a release earlier in the week via his own personal intervention and was quick to applauded the decision.
He told reporters earlier at the White House: “I’ve been talking to President Putin about Mr. Hubbard. I’ve been talking to him at length. I’ve asked him to release him. Let’s see what happens.”
CBS News reported Hubbard had been in poor health and was expected to be flown to Texas for treatment.