Diplomatic visit in St. Petersburg
Russia released 74-year-old U.S. political prisoner Stephen Hubbard on Oct. 21, after a visit by Washington’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. Vladimir Putin announced the release during a meeting with Witkoff, informing Vesti that Hubbard had already been taken to the airport. U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed the release in a social media post, stating he asked Putin to release Hubbard in a telephone call the previous week. Trump claimed the U.S. "was not required to give anything in return" for the release, though Trump waived Russia sanctions that same week and agreed to buy diesel from Moscow the week before. This release is the most significant result of Witkoff’s efforts to spark peace talks. A Moscow court sentenced Hubbard two years ago for allegedly serving in the Ukrainian military, despite his advanced age.
Background and diplomatic context
Hubbard had lived in Ukraine since 2014 and joined a territorial defense unit in the town of Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, after the February 2022 invasion, which led to his capture by Russia. A Moscow court sentenced him to prison in 2024 on charges of fighting as a mercenary, which is a term Moscow uses to label foreign volunteers. While Hubbard pleaded guilty to the charges, his sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, and another relative told Reuters in September 2024 that he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to take up arms at his age. The U.S. State Department has officially designated Hubbard as a wrongfully detained political prisoner. Dmitry Medvedev alluded to Russia using Westerners as bargaining chips in a Telegram post on Oct. 9, stating that Russia will have to "replenish the exchange fund with European and American idiots" after Montenegro arrested and later expelled the founder of the Rybar war blog, Mikhail Zvinchuk. Witkoff is currently in St. Petersburg to facilitate trilateral talks between President Volodymyr Zelensky, Putin, and Trump, but Putin has long evaded meetings with Zelensky. Putin instead pushes to meet Trump in China next month to secure a favorable peace deal without Ukraine at the table, and Russian state media has not mentioned any commitment from Putin regarding trilateral talks.
