Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Russia has released 74-year-old American citizen Stephen Hubbard, who was imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine, ahead of US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Wednesday.
The release came as Washington stepped up efforts to revive peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine amid growing strains in US-Kyiv relations.
US President Donald Trump announced Hubbard’s release on social media, saying it followed a request he had made directly to Putin during a phone conversation last week. Hubbard, a retired teacher from Michigan, had been designated by the US State Department as wrongfully detained.
advertisement
“Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family,” Trump said, adding that no prisoner exchange was required to secure his release.
Russian state media reported that Putin had ordered Hubbard’s release on humanitarian grounds. During his meeting with Witkoff at the Constantine Palace in St Petersburg, Putin said Hubbard had been taken to Pulkovo Airport, the same airport where the US envoy had landed earlier that day.
The release was the first major development announced during Witkoff’s visit and was presented as a goodwill gesture ahead of discussions on restarting US-mediated peace talks. Trump also suggested that his administration’s recent decision to ease certain Russian sanctions had helped create the conditions for negotiations, saying that without the move, the talks would have come to a halt.
Hubbard’s son, Joseph Coleman, thanked Trump and other US officials for securing his father’s release, while Witkoff conveyed the American president’s gratitude directly to Putin.
WHO IS STEPHEN HUBBARD?
Hubbard, a retired schoolteacher who spent decades working abroad as an English teacher, moved to the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum in 2014.
Russian prosecutors alleged that Hubbard joined a Ukrainian military defence unit in Izyum after signing a contract that paid him approximately USD 1,000 a month. Russian forces captured him shortly after launching their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
He was subsequently charged with serving as a mercenary and sentenced in October 2024 to nearly seven years in a penal colony. During a court hearing in October 2024, Hubbard appeared in a glass enclosure at the Moscow City Court.
The US State Department later designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained, a classification used by the American government in cases where it believes a US citizen has been unjustly held abroad.
According to CBS News, Hubbard had been in poor health and was expected to be flown to Texas for medical treatment.
TRUMP, WITKOFF THANK PUTIN FOR RELEASE
Announcing the development on Wednesday, Trump said Hubbard had been released at his request and that Russia had not sought anything in return.
The US president also linked the outcome to his administration’s recent decision to ease certain Russian sanctions. He said that had he not taken the step, negotiations would have come to a “complete and total halt”.
Hubbard’s son, Joseph Coleman, expressed gratitude to the US administration and Russian leadership for the outcome.
“Never once did we waver as we prayed for success in these negotiations, and we must acknowledge that this humanitarian move by President Putin in this matter is deeply appreciated,” Coleman said.
Witkoff also personally thanked Putin during their meeting, conveying the gratitude of Trump and the American public.
“I want to thank you very much, the President sends his thanks the whole nation sends their thanks because of Stephen Hubbard. Because of you, he’s going home to his family,” Witkoff said, according to remarks carried by Russian state media.
WITKOFF URGES PUTIN TO RESUME PEACE TALKS
Witkoff’s visit to St Petersburg followed talks in Oslo on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, alongside European and NATO representatives.
The Oslo discussions sought to coordinate positions on a possible peace framework before Witkoff’s meeting with Putin. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine had presented new ideas and proposals that had helped make meaningful progress towards a coordinated approach to engaging with Russia.
The talks covered key elements of a potential comprehensive settlement, including security guarantees for Ukraine, a post-war economic plan and a broader European security architecture, the official said.
Witkoff told Putin that one of his objectives was to explore whether trilateral negotiations involving the United States, Russia and Ukraine could resume.
“One thing that I hope to accomplish today is to have some good conversation between us about the resumption potentially of trilateral talks between Ukraine and Russia and the United States,” he said.
“Even if we don’t have a resolution today, if we just talk about and sort of consider what that next step might be, I think that would be important and the world is waiting to hear that,” he added.
The latest diplomatic effort comes more than two years after Trump promised during his election campaign to end the war within 24 hours. The last US-mediated peace talks took place in February, before the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran.
Despite renewed engagement, Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on the terms of a possible settlement. Putin has continued to seek full Russian control over the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine and has opposed Ukraine joining NATO. The Kremlin has also said that any meeting between Putin and Zelensky would require extensive preparation by aides to ensure it could produce meaningful results.
Zelensky has expressed hope for a trilateral meeting involving himself, Putin and Trump to discuss the central issues preventing a settlement. Trump, meanwhile, has intensified pressure on Kyiv to reach an agreement, warning on Tuesday that Ukraine needed to end the war or face “a very bad thing”.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
