Trump: I Asked Putin to Free Stephen Hubbard, and He Agreed

Retired American teacher Stephen Hubbard is on his way home after more than four years in Russian custody, and President Donald Trump said Wednesday that all it took was asking Vladimir Putin directly. “The other day, I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine… I mentioned, ‘Could you let Stephen Hubbard out please?’ and he agreed to do it,” Trump said, in remarks posted on X by the White House’s Rapid Response 47 account. “He was met today in Russia, and he’s on his way back.”

Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan who had been in Russian detention since 2022, was released Wednesday, ABC News reported. Putin said Hubbard was taken to St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, according to ABC News, and Witkoff later said in a post on X that Hubbard was on his way back to the United States.

.@POTUS: "The other day, I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine… I mentioned, 'Could you let Stephen Hubbard out please?' and he agreed to do it. He was met today in Russia — and he's on his way back." https://t.co/SGN7UaJuB3 pic.twitter.com/SLP3Dy4VNM

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 21, 2026

No prisoner swap required

“Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family. The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return, an unprecedented situation for Russia,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, according to NBC News. The White House said in a post on X that Hubbard was “taken four years ago by Russia during the Biden Administration.”

Hubbard was handed over to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport, Putin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said, according to NBC News. In video from Russian state news agency RIA cited by NBC News, Hubbard shook Witkoff’s hand and said, “Thank you very much for all your efforts.”

The Kremlin described the release as a goodwill gesture, according to NBC News. “Because of you, he’s going home to his family,” Witkoff told Putin, ABC News reported.

Who is Stephen Hubbard

Hubbard was detained in eastern Ukraine in April 2022, according to ABC News. He was being held on charges he denies of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, and he was the last American the State Department designated as wrongfully detained in Russia, NBC News reported.

His family thanked “President Trump and his team for opening the dialog with Russia which led to this joyful day,” according to NBC News.

Sanctions, peace talks and a controversial compliment

Trump argued that a harder line on Moscow would have doomed Hubbard. “If you would’ve put those sanctions on or whatever you want to call them, you could forget about him. You’d never see him again. He’d be back in jail for 25 years,” Trump said, in a clip posted on X by Rapid Response 47.

The release came as Witkoff met with Putin in St. Petersburg, where he told the Russian leader, “You are a humanitarian also, sir,” according to ABC News. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn and Democratic Sens. Chris Coons and Mark Kelly pushed back forcefully on that characterization, ABC News reported. Vice President JD Vance defended Witkoff, telling reporters “we should all be celebrating” that he is “bringing an American hostage home to his family,” according to ABC News. The Kremlin said it is ready to resume three-way peace talks with the United States and Ukraine, NBC News reported.

Sources

• Rapid Response 47 on X: Trump on asking Putin to free Hubbard
• Rapid Response 47 on X: Trump on sanctions and Hubbard
• The White House on X
• NBC News: Russia frees retired American teacher as Trump envoy meets with Putin
• ABC News: Witkoff lauds ‘humanitarian’ Putin as Russia releases detained American
• The Washington Post: What to know about Stephen Hubbard

Reporting by Daily Beltway.