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Russian President Vladimir Putin has released American citizen Steven Hubbard, who had been convicted by a Moscow court on mercenary charges after fighting with Ukrainian territorial defence forces, freeing him on the eve of a meeting with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Putin announced the release himself as his talks with Witkoff were getting under way in St Petersburg, adding that Hubbard was already at Pulkovo airport. He was expected to fly to Oslo together with Witkoff.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the release as “a gesture of goodwill” when asked by journalists what the United States had offered in return. Trump confirmed the exchange was one-sided, saying Russia had demanded nothing and had acted “out of respect for President Trump.” The US president added that people who had previously called for “immediate” sanctions against Russia over Hubbard’s imprisonment were now “calling to apologise.”
Conviction and sentence
The Moscow City Court had handed down its verdict in October 2024, when Hubbard was 72 years old. Investigators said he had lived in Ukraine since 2014 and joined a territorial defence unit in Kharkiv oblast in February 2022, one month before he was captured by Russian forces. He was found guilty under Part 3 of Article 359 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code, which covers mercenary activity. Prosecutors had sought seven years’ imprisonment; the court sentenced him to six years and ten months. The case was heard across two closed sessions. Russian officials said Hubbard pleaded guilty in court.
His sister, however, told interviewers that he had worked as an English-language teacher, held pro-Russian sympathies and did not know how to handle weapons.
Accounts of torture in captivity
Hubbard’s time in Russian detention was marked by severe abuse, according to a former Ukrainian prisoner of war who shared a cell with him before the verdict was announced. Igor Chichko, who had himself been held in Russian captivity and was later released, said Hubbard and the Ukrainian servicemen held alongside him were beaten, humiliated and starved.
“They beat him regularly, like everyone else — with sticks and batons, they kicked him, set dogs on him, gave him no food and forced him to crawl along corridors,” Chichko said. He added that Hubbard had told him he had also been subjected to electric shocks.
The release comes amid broader diplomatic activity between Moscow and Washington. No reciprocal transfer of a Russian national by the United States was announced in connection with Hubbard’s freedom.