Russia Releases US Teacher Stephen Hubbard as Witkoff Meets Putin

Stephen Hubbard, a retired American schoolteacher who had been held in Russian custody, was released and is traveling home, President Donald Trump said Wednesday, as his special envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian officials in St Petersburg, Russia, according to The Guardian's live coverage.

Trump, writing on Truth Social, said the release followed a direct request he made to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call last week and that Washington made no concession to secure Hubbard's freedom.

"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 wrote, adding that "this major return should have taken place long ago through the Biden Administration, which got nowhere in its negotiations with the Kremlin," per the statement carried by the Guardian.

"Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family," Trump said.

What happened to Stephen Hubbard?

Hubbard, a retired teacher, was photographed in Moscow City Court during a 2024 court appearance, according to a Reuters image published alongside the Guardian's coverage. The available reporting does not detail the underlying charges against him or the full length of his detention beyond that 2024 proceeding, and the Guardian's live blog did not publish a Kremlin account of the release terms.

What is Witkoff doing in St Petersburg?

Witkoff's meeting with Russian officials in St Petersburg followed a day of talks in Oslo, Norway, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, the Guardian reported. The envoy is expected to relay proposals discussed in Oslo to his Russian counterparts, including a call for a trilateral summit bringing together Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump to negotiate a lasting settlement to the war in Ukraine.

The Guardian's rolling coverage, filed under the heading "No budging from the Kremlin as Witkoff visits Putin," indicated Russian officials showed no sign of shifting their position during the St Petersburg session. The live blog did not specify what counteroffer, if any, Moscow put forward in response.

What happened in Oslo before the Russia trip?

The Oslo talks brought Zelenskyy together with the leaders of Norway and Finland — two countries bordering Russia that have taken an active diplomatic role in the war — a day ahead of Witkoff's travel to Russia. The Guardian's live blog did not publish further detail on the substance of those discussions beyond the proposal for a three-way summit among Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump.

Why does Trump describe the release as unconditional?

Trump's framing — that no swap took place — departs from the pattern of past prisoner exchanges between Washington and Moscow, which have typically involved reciprocal releases of Russian nationals held in the United States. His statement did not address whether Witkoff's Kremlin-adjacent visit factored into the decision to free Hubbard, and the Guardian's coverage did not include a Kremlin statement confirming or disputing Trump's characterization of the release as unconditional.

What comes next in the Ukraine diplomacy

• Witkoff is expected to brief Washington after relaying the Oslo proposals to Russian officials in St Petersburg.
• A trilateral summit involving Zelenskyy, Putin and Trump remains a proposal under discussion rather than a scheduled event, per the Guardian's live reporting.
• Trump is continuing a midterm campaign push in the final weeks before the vote even as the Ukraine-related diplomacy unfolds, according to the same live coverage.

The available source material does not include a Kremlin statement on the terms of Hubbard's release, and the Guardian noted its live coverage of both the prisoner release and the Witkoff-Putin meeting was still developing as of its most recent update.

How did the Guardian's live coverage track the story?

The Guardian's rolling file, authored by Shrai Popat and, in earlier hours, Frances Mao, listed the sequence of events under separate timestamped entries: Russia's release of Hubbard roughly three hours before Trump's post, followed roughly an hour later by the Truth Social statement, and finally the dispatch on Witkoff's St Petersburg meeting under the heading "No budging from the Kremlin as Witkoff visits Putin." The blog's own update log shows Trump's remarks on the release were revised at 07.57 EDT, though the Guardian did not specify what, if anything, changed in that revision.

The live blog also noted ongoing developments tied to the midterm elections, including Trump's travel related to South Carolina data centers, without linking those items directly to the Hubbard release or the Witkoff meeting.