Russia frees American teacher Stephen Hubbard after Trump's plea to Putin
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Russia released 74-year-old American Stephen Hubbard, held since 2022, after Trump said he asked Putin to free him.
He was the last American the US formally deemed wrongfully detained in Russia.
Background
Stephen Hubbard is a 74-year-old Michigan native and retired school teacher who served in the U.S. National Guard and Air Force. He moved to the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum in 2014 and was captured in February 2022, shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion; Russian authorities accused him of manning a checkpoint for mercenaries, and he was sentenced in 2024 to almost seven years in a penal colony after a closed trial. Washington designated him wrongfully detained in January 2025, and his case drew renewed attention as the Trump administration pressed for the release of Americans held in Russia.
How it unfolded
- 2014Hubbard, an English teacher, moved to the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum.
- February 2022Hubbard was captured in Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion; Russian authorities accused him of manning a checkpoint for mercenaries.
- April 2022Russian state media said Hubbard had been detained.
- 2024Hubbard was sentenced after a closed trial to almost seven years in a penal colony.
- Oct 7, 2024Hubbard appeared in a glass cage at a Moscow City Court session.
- January 2025Washington designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained.
- February 2025The New York Times reported Hubbard had been moved through at least five Russian detention centers before his trial.
- April 2025Hubbard's legal team learned he was being held at a facility in the Mordovia region, east of Moscow.
- Oct 20, 2026Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he had raised Hubbard's case with Putin and hinted a development could come soon; ABC News reported the administration was closing in on a deal to free multiple Americans from Russia, centered on Hubbard.
- Oct 21, 2026Russia released Hubbard; Putin said he was at Pulkovo Airport near St. Petersburg, per TASS. US special envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed the release and thanked Putin during their meeting in St. Petersburg.
Who’s saying what
- Official
- Trump said he had been talking to Putin at length about Hubbard and asked him to release the teacher.
- Party
- Hubbard's sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, said the accusation that her brother fought as a mercenary was a lie.
- Caution
- Officials cautioned that while terms of a broader arrangement were coming into focus, nothing had been finalized and it was possible it would not materialize or its scope would change.
Still unverified
There was no immediate confirmation from the United States of the release in the initial reports, and it was not immediately clear what the U.S. had agreed to, if anything, to secure Hubbard's release. Reuters said it could not independently establish the circumstances of Hubbard's capture or verify when or where videos of him were recorded.