Russia releases US teacher Stephen Hubbard after Putin-Witkoff talks

St Petersburg, Russia. Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a retired American schoolteacher aged 74 who had been detained since 2022, on Wednesday and brought him to St Petersburg for a flight home. Washington described the talks preceding his release as progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.

Putin announces release

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Hubbard’s release during a meeting in St Petersburg with US envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had acted following a request from US President Donald Trump, while also considering Hubbard’s poor health.

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Footage broadcast by state television showed Witkoff conveying thanks from Trump and the American nation. He credited Putin with enabling Hubbard to return to his family.

Witkoff also described Putin as a “humanitarian”, prompting strong criticism from lawmakers in both the Republican and Democratic parties in light of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Family contact before departure

Footage provided to Reuters showed Witkoff and Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev meeting Hubbard at a location that was not disclosed. Hubbard appeared clean-shaven and wore a dark fleece. He shook hands with Witkoff and thanked him for his efforts.

Joseph Coleman, Hubbard’s son, told Reuters in a voice message that he had briefly spoken to his father by telephone before Hubbard boarded the aircraft in Russia. Coleman said his father seemed light-footed and sounded happy that day.

Further negotiations planned

Witkoff described his discussions with Putin as constructive and said negotiations would continue toward planned talks at technical level among representatives of the United States, Russia and Ukraine.

In a post on X, Witkoff also said he had met Ukrainian and European leaders in Oslo as part of efforts to advance Trump’s drive to end the war.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, who met Witkoff, told public broadcaster NRK that an agreed further high-level meeting involving Washington, Moscow and Kyiv was likely to take place in mid-November. He said its focus would be a possible security framework for the period after the conflict.