Who is Stephen Hubbard, the American Putin just freed?

Vladimir Putin has released U.S. citizen Stephen Hubbard, who had been convicted by a Russian court on mercenary charges. Putin announced the move at the start of his meeting with U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg, saying Hubbard is already at Pulkovo Airport. He will likely leave Russia with Witkoff, who is expected to fly to Oslo later that evening.

Hubbard was officially released “as a goodwill gesture,” Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said, responding to a question from journalists about whether the U.S. had given Russia anyone in return. Donald Trump also said the release was unilateral and that Russia had not demanded anything in exchange “out of respect for President Trump.” The U.S. president added that he is now receiving apologetic phone calls from people who had previously demanded that Russia be hit with sanctions.

The Moscow City Court sentenced Hubbard, then 72, in October 2024. According to investigators, the American had lived in Ukraine since 2014 and joined the territorial defense forces in the Kharkiv region in February 2022. Russian forces captured him a month later and charged him with mercenary activity. Prosecutors had sought a seven-year sentence in a penal colony, but the court gave him six years and 10 months. The case was heard over two private hearings. Russian authorities claimed the American had pleaded guilty. Hubbard’s sister said in an interview that he had worked as an English teacher, held pro-Russian views, and did not know how to handle a weapon.

Hubbard was tortured in detention, said Ihor Chychko, a former Ukrainian prisoner of war who had been Hubbard’s cellmate before his sentencing. Chychko said Hubbard, like the Ukrainian servicemen held with him, was beaten, humiliated, and starved. “They constantly beat him, like any of us. They hit him with sticks, batons, and their feet. They set dogs on him, didn’t feed him, and made him crawl through the corridors,” he said. Hubbard himself told him he had also been tortured with electric shocks, according to Chychko.

Hubbard is the second U.S. citizen Russia has released recently. In August, Russia released Robert Gilman, 32, who had been serving a 10-year sentence on charges of attacking law enforcement officers. Gilman had been in custody since January 2022. His release was also officially presented as a goodwill gesture, though journalists called it “suspicious,” saying Moscow was likely trying to secure Trump’s support ahead of a possible resumption of talks with Kyiv.

Sixteen U.S. citizens are serving sentences in Russia, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service announced in September. Hubbard was the only one of them officially recognized by the State Department as “wrongfully detained.” The human rights organization Global Reach, which helps families of Americans held abroad, believes there are at least five more such wrongful cases. In August, a group of U.S. senators asked the State Department to grant the five that status. On the eve of Hubbard’s release, sources who spoke to ABC News reported that the Trump administration was negotiating a deal that could result in the release of several Americans from custody at once.