Russia Frees American Stephen Hubbard After More Than Four Years: Trump Says He Asked Putin Directly
Speaking at a White House roundtable on cybercrime on October 21, President Donald Trump said that Stephen Hubbard, an American held in Russia for more than four years, is returning to the United States following a request Trump made directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Associated Press reported that Russia has freed Hubbard after over four years behind bars, and Politico Playbook noted the same day that Trump is touting the release as a sign of the Kremlin's respect for his leadership.
Hubbard, 74, has family ties to Idaho and is originally from Michigan. An English teacher who had previously lived in Japan and Cyprus, he was living in Izium, Ukraine, when Russian forces took control of the town in April 2022 and arrested him. In October 2024 a Moscow court convicted him in a closed trial of serving as a mercenary for Ukraine and sentenced him to six years and ten months in prison. His family rejected the charge, saying he was an English teacher and a pacifist; the United States designated him as wrongfully detained in January 2025. Idaho Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch said during this year's Hostage Week that Hubbard, whose health was declining, has family waiting for him in Idaho and that they would work with the administration to secure his release.
Hubbard is the only American known to have been taken from Ukraine and then jailed in Russia, and Russia had refused U.S. consular access throughout his detention. The White House and the State Department have not yet announced arrangements for his arrival in the United States.
(Based on Associated Press reporting and public coverage of the White House roundtable)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 莫斯科克里姆林宫资料图。图：经维基共享资源，CC 授权。 / File photo: the Kremlin in Moscow. Via Wikimedia Commons, CC license.
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