Russia Releases US Citizen Stephen Hubbard After Four and a Half Years

Russia has released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired English teacher from the United States, after four and a half years in Russian custody, according to the BBC. The release came on the day US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg to discuss the war in Ukraine.

Hubbard was captured in April 2022 in Izyum, an eastern Ukrainian city where he was living with his Ukrainian partner. He was accused of serving in Ukraine's armed forces. A court in Moscow convicted him and sentenced him to six years and 10 months.

Russian and US officials said that Hubbard was not freed as part of a prisoner exchange, a deal in which both sides hand over detainees. US President Donald Trump said he had asked Putin to free Hubbard during a phone call the week before the release. CNN reported that Hubbard has since returned to the United States.

Hubbard's younger sister said he did not know he was being released until he saw the US flag, according to US News.

While Hubbard awaited trial, he was held alongside two Ukrainian former prisoners, Dmytro Khyliuk and Ihor Shyshko. Khyliuk, a Ukrainian journalist who was later released from a Russian prison, first met Hubbard at Novozybkov prison in Bryansk in September 2022.

Shyshko has alleged that he witnessed and heard prison guards beat Hubbard on the legs, back and arms and electrocute him with a stun gun. He also alleged that Hubbard was deprived of food and medical care, kept in the cold, and treated more harshly because he was American. Shyshko further alleged that Hubbard was subjected to sexual humiliation and abuse for the entertainment of prison staff.

Khyliuk has claimed that Hubbard was hidden after his transfer to Pakino prison, in order to conceal his condition from visitors from the International Red Cross, the humanitarian organisation.

The allegations fit a wider pattern that Ukrainian officials and former detainees have described. In August 2026, Reuters reported that former Ukrainian detainees and Ukrainian officials accused Russia of systematically torturing prisoners of war and civilians. Russia has not been the only subject of such claims in this conflict; the allegations concerning Hubbard's detention have not been tested in court.

The US State Department's travel advisory for Russia says Russian officials have questioned, threatened and detained US citizens without reason. It assesses that the risk of wrongful detention of US citizens in Russia remains high, and it states that there is no guarantee of release even when a detention is determined to be wrongful.