Trump reveals ‘One phone call to Putin, no prisoner swap, American freed
By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Wednesday has credited a personal request to Russian President Vladimir Putin for securing the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American who spent over 4 years in Russian custody, stated that Moscow agreed to free him without demanding a prisoner exchange.
Trump said he raised Hubbard’s case during a recent telephone conversation with Putin about ending the war in Ukraine.
Mr. Putin agreed to the request, and Hubbard was released on Wednesday, October 21.
Trump told reporters at the White House “We gave nothing in exchange, which is very rare,”.
He argued that offering concessions to secure detainees’ freedom could encourage further detentions.
The release came as Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff visited St. Petersburg for talks with Putin on the Ukraine conflict.
Moscow also signaled its willingness to resume direct negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the US.
Trump said the appeal was made during a wider discussion about prospects for ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“But I mentioned could you let Stephen Hubbard out, please? And he agreed to do it,” Trump said.
Trump described the diplomatic effort as unusually straightforward, although Hubbard’s case had been raised with Moscow before the latest conversation.
Trump said Witkoff and members of Hubbard’s family accompanied the freed American on his journey home.
“I spoke to him this morning. He is the happiest man around,” Trump said.
Trump also claimed that Hubbard’s family had feared he could remain imprisoned for two more decades.
“We had a wonderful man who, during the Biden administration, was taken hostage in Russia. They claimed things we won’t get into that—but we thought he was a very high-quality, innocent man. Stephen Hubbard, his name is. And he was—for the last number of years I would hear the name, mostly when it happened. When it happened, I would watch his son on television, I’d watch his family on television, begging virtually for him to come back, please,” Trump said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin had authorized the release on humanitarian grounds, with Hubbard’s health among the considerations.
Hubbard, a retired teacher from Michigan, had been held since April 2022, when Russian forces detained him in Izyum, a city in eastern Ukraine.
Russian prosecutors accused him of serving as a mercenary for Ukrainian forces after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A Russian court sentenced him to 6 years and 10 months in prison in October 2024 after a closed-door trial.
Hubbard’s US-based lawyer, Martin De Luca, disputed the allegations, said his client had denied belong to any military or combat unit.
US government had formally designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained.
He was the only American still held in Russia with that designation at the time of his release.
Hubbard’s freedom coincided with round of US diplomatic efforts to revive negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv.
Witkoff met Putin in St. Petersburg after holding discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo.
Russian officials indicated that Moscow was prepared to participate in renewed trilateral negotiations at the technical level, although major differences over a potential settlement remain unresolved.
Trump said the negotiations were making progress and suggested an agreement could be closer than at previous stages of the conflict.
He defended his approach towards Moscow, argued that a more confrontational policy could have jeopardised Hubbard’s release.
“The last thing I want to do is upset an apple cart where we’re getting close to settling a war,” Trump said.
US envoy thanked Putin for freeing Hubbard and described the Russian leader as a humanitarian, a remark that drew criticism from lawmakers in both major American political parties because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
