ByCORINNE BAUM

Stephen Hubbard, a US citizen detained by the Kremlin in 2022, was released from a Russian prison on Wednesday shortly after US envoy Steve Witkoff landed in Russia.

During Witkoff’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin chief announced that Hubbard was at an airport in St. Petersburg.

The Michigan native, 74, was detained in Ukraine in 2024. Russia’s judiciary alleged that he was fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine in the war, though his family denied the claims.

His sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, has argued that Hubbard’s age and pro-Russian views made it unlikely that he would take up arms against Russian troops.

Hubbard’s lawyer said that Russian troops entered his home and took him away.

Stephen Hubbard, a U.S. citizen accused of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine against Russia in the course of a military conflict, is seen on a screen while being escorted in a court building during a video link to a hearing in Moscow, Russia October 7, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV)
Stephen Hubbard, a U.S. citizen accused of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine against Russia in the course of a military conflict, is seen on a screen while being escorted in a court building during a video link to a hearing in Moscow, Russia October 7, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV)

Stephen Hubbard released from Russian prison

The State Department maintained that Hubbard had been wrongfully detained since his sentencing in 2024. Officials also said that Russia refused to grant US officials consular access to Hubbard.

Ahead of Witkoff’s visit, a US official said that the envoy’s meeting with Putin is “expected to include efforts to seek the release of wrongfully detained American citizen Hubbard, reflecting President Trump’s continued commitment to bringing Americans home,” as per CNN.