Trump: Implementing Russia sanctions would have halted Stephen Hubbard release talks

President Trump defended his waiver of Russian sanctions, saying it would have halted negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired schoolteacher who was arrested by Russian authorities when it invaded Ukraine.

“Numerous people, who requested that sanctions be immediately imposed on 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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social .

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

Hubbard was released on Wednesday morning, according to another post by Trump. The president described making a request to Putin “in a telephone conversation last week.”

“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,” Trump stated.

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 in 2022.

At his trial, Russian prosecutors claimed Hubbard fought alongside Ukrainian troops before his arrest two months into the war, prompting the Biden administration’s State Department to designate Hubbard as “wrongfully detained.”

Hubbard’s release comes after Trump faced major criticism from his own party concerning his decision to import Russian diesel amid rising global energy costs and waive a legislative package that would have imposed Russian energy sanctions.

Trump also recently negotiated a deal with Moscow to “immediately” supply 300,000 tons of diesel to the global marketplace, with another 500,000 tons on the way in November despite embargoes and sanctions.

A bipartisan group of senators — including Republican Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Susan Collins (Maine) — signed onto a letter that condemned the deal, writing that lifting sanctions on Russia’s diesel exports “only provides Putin with more fuel to finance his war machine and enables Russia to continue its brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians.”