Russia releases imprisoned American Stephen Hubbard

President Trump on Wednesday said Russia released imprisoned American teacher Stephen Hubbard, whom the Kremlin accused of working as a mercenary in Ukraine before sentencing him to prison in 2024.

“Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family,” Trump wrote on Truth Social . “The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return – an unprecedented situation for Russia. There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release. This major return should have taken place long ago through the Biden Administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin.”

The release comes after Trump has taken various moves that benefit Russia, including striking a deal to import Russian diesel and waiving sanctions meant to isolate Moscow.

The president claimed that “numerous people” who called on him to sanction Russia “have called to apologize to President Trump in that they didn’t know that he was negotiating the release of Stephen Hubbard, a truly big and important deal for the U.S.”

“If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt,” he wrote.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff first announced Hubbard’s release during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. Witkoff thanked the Russian leader for Hubbard’s release and told Putin that because “of you, he’s going home to his family,” The Associated Press reported.

Putin replied that Hubbard was at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg following his release.

Trump had teased to reporters Tuesday that he spoke with Putin and asked for the Michigan teacher to be released.

Hubbard was serving a seven-year prison sentence after he was accused of signing a contract with Ukraine’s military following the Russian invasion that started the war between the two countries. Russian prosecutors claimed Hubbard fought alongside Ukrainian troops before his arrest two months into the war, prompting the Biden administration to designate Hubbard as wrongfully detained.

Trump took a second swipe at his predecessor on Truth Social , later writing that former President Biden should have “done the Hubbard release a long time ago!”

“What a difference a president makes!” he added.

Hubbard is the second American detained in Russia to have been freed in just more than two months, as critics accuse the Trump administration of benefiting Russia while threatening the U.S. relationship with Ukraine amid its nearly five-year-long war against Russia.

Trump and the Kremlin made a deal earlier this month to allow diesel into the U.S. and global marketplace amid the energy shortage instigated by the Iran war. The president followed this by waiving sanctions on Russia, which were passed by Congress in a bill named after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Both acts drew condemnation from both sides of the aisle. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the diesel deal a “ birthday gift ” to Putin and urged the U.S. not to make a “ historic mistake ” by offering Putin support.

Trump has blasted back at Zelensky, calling the Ukrainian president “not a good guy for us to deal with.”