Russia frees US teacher Stephen Hubbard during Witkoff's talks with Putin in St. Petersburg

Russia released Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan, on Wednesday, handing him to US envoy Steve Witkoff at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said. Witkoff was in the city for talks with President Vladimir Putin on ending the Ukraine war. Hubbard was detained about two months after Russia's February 2022 invasion and was sentenced in 2024, after a closed trial, to nearly seven years for fighting as a mercenary. Prosecutors said he signed a contract with Ukraine's military. President Donald Trump wrote that Hubbard was heading home and that the US gave nothing in return. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the release was on humanitarian grounds. Hubbard's family acknowledged both Trump's and Putin's roles.

Left-leaning outlets, the New York Times and NBC, profile Hubbard, cite the State Department's term "fabricated charges" and frame the release as part of warming ties, quoting Witkoff, Ushakov, Peskov and the family. Alternative outlets, Al Jazeera and ZeroHedge, stress Trump's statements and Witkoff's praise of Putin; Al Jazeera adds Trump's recent Moscow-friendly moves and strain between Washington and Kyiv. Right-leaning outlets credit Trump: the New York Post cites his earlier request to Putin, and Newsmax quotes a White House official on his negotiating skills.