Russia frees American Stephen Hubbard, 74, as Trump envoy meets with Putin

American Stephen Hubbard was released by Russia on Wednesday, the latest sign of warmer ties with the Kremlin as Washington pressures Kyiv to agree to a deal that ends Moscow’s war.

The news of Hubbard’s release followed talks between U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and President Vladimir Putin early Wednesday. Putin said that Hubbard, 74, was at the airport and Witkoff thanked the Russian leader for his release.

Washington has courted the Kremlin for weeks, and the release of Hubbard — a retired Michigan schoolteacher detained in Ukraine in 2022 — will give President Donald Trump a victory to tout after backlash at home and abroad for his tilt away from Ukraine.

Trump said Tuesday that he had raised with Putin the idea of releasing Hubbard, who was being held in Russia on charges he denies of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine.

The meeting in St. Petersburg, which Jared Kushner was expected to join virtually, comes after the American negotiators met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

Ukraine brought forward new ideas and proposals at those talks, a U.S. official told NBC News, adding that “meaningful progress” was made as the Trump administration…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business