In a high-stakes diplomatic meeting held in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Moscow will release 74-year-old detained American citizen Stephen Hubbard, following negotiations with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. According to Russian state media, Hubbard has already been transferred to St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport ahead of his departure from Russia, closing a months-long diplomatic standoff over his detention.
Hubbard, a retired teacher originally from Michigan, was handed a nearly seven-year prison sentence in a Russian penal colony earlier this year. Russian prosecutors leveled charges that he had joined a Ukrainian defense battalion in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum, where he was captured by Russian forces shortly after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The U.S. State Department had long categorized Hubbard as being wrongfully detained, and current U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed earlier this week that he had personally raised Hubbard’s case during discussions with Putin.
“We have been focused on Hubbard,” Trump told reporters Tuesday, adding “Watch what happens” to tease the impending breakthrough. Multiple U.S. media outlets including CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. distribution partner, have reported that Hubbard has been suffering from serious underlying health issues during his detention, and he is expected to fly to Texas immediately after his release to receive urgent medical care. The BBC has reached out to the White House to request additional comment on the deal, as of publication no formal statement has been released.
The agreement to release Hubbard was paired with a separate energy deal between Washington and Moscow announced earlier this month, which will resume U.S. imports of Russian diesel. Russian state media reported that Witkoff expressed gratitude to Putin on President Trump’s behalf both for Hubbard’s release and for the new energy agreement. Putin told reporters that the first shipment of Russian diesel under the new deal will depart Russia within two to three days, confirming the timeline in comments carried by Russian state news agency TASS.
The dual deal has already triggered sharp backlash from Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly condemned the diesel agreement, and the move has further strained already frayed diplomatic ties between Kyiv and Washington. In on-camera remarks made during Wednesday’s St. Petersburg meeting and aired on Russian state television, Witkoff framed the energy agreement as a model for what cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv could achieve. “Your decision to remove export controls on diesel oil from Russia, not just to the U.S. but also to the world at large in the midst of an economic shock, I think that was really important that that happened,” Witkoff said. “I know [President Trump] is deeply grateful for it.”