Who is Stephen Hubbard, imprisoned American released by Russia?

Russia on Wednesday released American teacher Stephen Hubbard, who was serving a seven-year prison sentence after prosecutors accused him of working with Ukraine as a mercenary following the Russian invasion that launched the war between both countries.

President Trump announced the development on Truth Social after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Hubbard was released during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Witkoff thanked the Russian president, saying Hubbard could now return home to his family.

“The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return – an unprecedented situation for Russia,” Trump wrote. “There was no “swap” necessary for this release.”

The retired educator grew up in Big Rapids, Mich., and served in the U.S. Air Force and National Guard, The New York Times reported in 2025, citing military records.

Hubbard lived in Japan and then Cyprus for several years before moving to Izyum, Ukraine, in 2014, his sister Patricia Hubbard Fox told Reuters , adding that she last spoke with her brother in September 2021.

Russian prosecutors alleged that Hubbard signed a contract with the Ukrainian military at the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022 and that he fought alongside Ukrainian troops. State media claimed Hubbard manned a Ukrainian military checkpoint at the start of the war, Reuters reported.

Two months after Russia’s invasion, he was captured and brought to trial. The Biden administration designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained.

Russian prosecutors accused Hubbard of being part of a Ukrainian territorial defense unit and that he received training, weapons and ammunition and was told he would receive $1,000 a month, according to Reuters.

Hubbard’s lawyer, Martin De Luca, told the news service that the charges were false and that he had no involvement with Ukraine’s military and was detained at a house in Izyum. Ukrainian forces reclaimed the city in September 2022

Before Hubbard was sentenced, Russian state media claimed that he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Fox told Reuters that her brother held pro-Russian views and was not likely to take up arms at his age, and questioned the reported guilty plea.

Second release of an imprisoned American

Hubbard’s release comes after Russia released American teacher Marc Fogel in February. Fogel had been serving a 14-year sentence in a penal colony after he was convicted of allegedly trying to enter Russia while carrying medical marijuana in 2021.

The Biden-era State Department also labeled Fogel as wrongfully detained.

Fogel’s sister said that it felt like the family was “stabbed in the back” when he was not part of an earlier massive prisoner swap involving the U.S., Turkey, Germany, Russia, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus.

It was the largest exchange of detainees since the Cold War, with journalist Evan Gershkovich among those released .

National security adviser Mike Waltz said at the time that Fogel’s release “serves as a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine.”