Russia frees US citizen Stephen Hubbard, state media reports
Stephen Hubbard has been taken to Pulkovo Airport, Putin said during talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Russia releases US citizen Stephen Hubbard, state media says
President Vladimir Putin said Russia has agreed to free an American citizen who was imprisoned for allegedly fighting for Ukraine, according to state media reports.
Putin said Stephen Hubbard had been taken to Pulkovo Airport during talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg.
Hubbard, who is originally from Michigan, was 72 when he was sentenced in 2024 to nearly seven years in a penal colony.
Prosecutors said he had served in a defence unit in the eastern city of Izyum before he was captured by Russian forces two years earlier.
The US State Department had already designated Hubbard as "wrongfully detained", and on Tuesday President Donald Trump said he had brought up Hubbard's case with Putin.
"Watch what happens," Trump told reporters. "We have been focused on Hubbard".