Stephen Hubbard, an American imprisoned in Russia for more than four years for fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, was released after a visit by US special envoy Steve Witkoff to St. Petersburg.
Hubbard, a retired Michigan teacher, was designated by the U.S. State Department as wrongfully detained. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had raised Hubbard’s case with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Witkoff thanked Putin for Hubbard’s release after the meeting.
Putin said during the meeting that Hubbard was at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, the same airport where Witkoff landed earlier Wednesday.
CNN has requested comment from the US State Department.
Before Witkoff’s trip to Moscow, a U.S. official said the special envoy’s visit “is expected to include efforts to secure the release of unjustly detained U.S. citizen Hubbard, reflecting President Trump’s continued commitment to bringing Americans home.”
Hubbard spent decades abroad as an English teacher. He moved to the eastern Ukrainian town of Izyum in 2014, which was occupied by Russian forces at the start of their war against Ukraine in 2022.
According to Russian state media, Russian prosecutors claimed that Hubbard fought at Izyum after signing a contract for around $1,000 a month. His sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, said the accusation was a lie.
Hubbard is the latest American to be released from Russian custody.
In August, Robert Gilman was released from Russian detention on humanitarian grounds on Tuesday, amid serious concerns about his health. The Marine veteran was severely emaciated when he returned to the United States aboard a specialized medical plane. The advocacy group said Gilman was tortured in Russian custody.
But many other Americans remain imprisoned in Russia:
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André Khachatoorian was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to eight and a half years for arms trafficking – charges he denies. Khachatoorian, an American of Armenian origin, was arrested while traveling from the United States to Armenia via Moscow.
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David Barnes was arrested in 2022. According to the Foley Foundation, which advocates for American hostages and wrongful detainees, he was arrested after his ex-wife, who kidnapped his sons from Texas to Russia, made allegations of abuse that had already been twice refuted by Texas authorities.
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Aleksander Antonov, who arrived in the United States as a Soviet refugee and has since become a naturalized American citizen, was arrested in 2025 while trying to cross the border from Russia to Estonia. He was accused of “anti-Russian sentiment,” according to the Foley Foundation. He was sentenced to six years in prison for inciting terrorism and extremism.
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Olga Jezler, a permanent resident of the United States, was arrested on drug trafficking charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2022. According to the Foley Foundation, she was transporting legal CBD oil to Russia for her sister who was suffering from breast cancer and Russian prosecutors deliberately misclassified the substance as hash oil.
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Chuck Zimmerman, described by his supporters as a Navy veteran who was intercepted by the Russian Navy while sailing in international waters. He was charged with arms trafficking for having a gun on board.
A State Department spokesperson said after Gilman’s release that he hoped it would “lead to the release of Americans unjustly detained in Russia.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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