Vladimir Putin ordered the release of an American from a Russian jail as he met Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg on Wednesday for fresh talks on ending the war in Ukraine, amid increasingly close relations between Moscow and Washington.
Trump had previously asked Putin to free Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old former teacher who had spent more than four years in Russian jails on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine.
His release appeared to be Moscow’s latest calculated move to bring Trump further into line with Putin’s position on Ukraine, while offering the US president a diplomatic victory before the midterm elections.
Hubbard was released unilaterally by Russia, rather than as part of a prisoner exchange as has often been the case with previous releases of Americans held in the country.
Writing on social media after the release was announced, Trump said it followed a request he had made “directly” to Putin last week.
He wrote on Truth Social: “The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return – an unprecedented situation for Russia … There was no ‘swap’ necessary for this release.”
Witkoff, meanwhile, lavished praise on Putin during their meeting at the grand Constantine Palace in St Petersburg, describing the Russian president as a humanitarian.
“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that,” Witkoff told Putin. He also conveyed Trump’s thanks for a controversial deal to resume Russian diesel exports to the US.
The Russian president is wanted by the international criminal court (ICC) as a war criminal, in relation to the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia during the war. More than 17,500 civilians have been confirmed killed in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to the UN, which says the true toll is likely to be significantly higher.
The warmth of Witkoff’s remarks stood in stark contrast to the increasingly hostile rhetoric directed at Volodymyr Zelenskyy by senior US officials, most notably Trump, who has called for the Ukrainian president to resign and portrayed him as the main obstacle to peace.
Witkoff travelled to Russia from Oslo, where he had met Zelenskyy and European leaders a day earlier in an attempt to inject momentum into stalled negotiations, with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine now in its fifth year.
Witkoff told Putin during a televised portion of their meeting: “We’ve brought some papers. It’s really some ideas, some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and you’ll read that at your leisure.”
The visit was Witkoff’s ninth to Russia since Trump tasked him with brokering an end to the war.
