United States: A plane believed to be carrying Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old US citizen freed by Russia, arrived at a military installation in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday after he was released from prison and taken to St. Petersburg to fly home.
Hubbard, a retired schoolteacher who had been in Russian custody since 2022, was released following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff. Putin announced the release during a meeting in St. Petersburg.
US President Donald Trump said at a White House roundtable on Wednesday that he had asked Putin to release Hubbard during a telephone call late last week and that the United States had given “nothing in exchange”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had freed Hubbard at Trump’s request and had also taken into account the American’s poor health.
Witkoff said discussions with Putin would continue towards planned technical-level talks involving the United States, Russia, and Ukraine. Washington described the talks as a step towards ending the war in Ukraine.
“The president sends his thanks, our whole nation sends their thanks, because of Stephen Hubbard,” Witkoff told Putin in a meeting shown on Russian state television. “Because of you he's going home to his family.”
In footage of the exchange, Witkoff thanked Putin for Hubbard’s release and called the Russian leader a “humanitarian”. The remark drew sharp criticism from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, given Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
A video shared with Reuters showed Witkoff and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev meeting Hubbard at an undisclosed location. Hubbard, who was clean-shaven and wearing a dark fleece, shook Witkoff’s hand and said: “Thank you very much for all your efforts.”
Hubbard’s son, Joseph Coleman, told Reuters in a voice message that he had spoken briefly by phone with his father before Hubbard boarded the plane in Russia.
Witkoff’s remarks came amid bipartisan criticism in Congress and concern in European capitals over Trump’s recent overtures to Moscow, including a deal to buy Russian diesel and a waiver of new sanctions.