Putin Orders Release of American Stephen Hubbard During Witkoff Talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the release of an American from a Russian prison while meeting US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday, October 21, 2026. The meeting was part of talks on ending the war in Ukraine.
The American is Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old former teacher from Michigan. The Associated Press reported that he had been imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine, a charge he denies. He had spent more than four years in Russian jails. In April 2025, the State Department had called on Russia to release him, when he had been detained for nearly three years.
Russia freed Hubbard on its own rather than through a prisoner exchange. In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said the release followed a request he had made directly to Putin the previous week. He said no swap was necessary because the United States was not required to give anything in return. The Biden administration had earlier declared Hubbard wrongfully detained.
Witkoff travelled to Russia from Oslo, where he had met Zelenskyy and European leaders a day earlier. At the Constantine Palace in St Petersburg, he publicly praised Putin as a humanitarian. He also conveyed Trump's thanks to Putin for a deal to resume Russian diesel exports to the United States. The visit was Witkoff's ninth to Russia since Trump asked him to help broker an end to the war, and he brought peace-deal ideas written on papers to the meeting.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in remarks to the press published by the State Department, referred to Witkoff presenting Putin with an updated US proposal for a peace deal. Rubio also mentioned Russia's release of Hubbard.
Sanctions, the trade restrictions governments impose on one another, form part of the wider picture. Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel as part of a deal with Putin. Later, after Ukraine refused to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, Trump called for Zelenskyy to be replaced.
Earlier this week, on October 20, Zelenskyy said Washington had resumed providing advance warnings to Ukraine after disruptions to US intelligence-sharing. CBS News reported that Hubbard was released, according to Witkoff, and described him as the last American in Russia.
