US President Donald Trump said Russia imposed no conditions on the United States in exchange for the release of American citizen Stephan Hubbard, infohub.kz reports.
According to TASS, Russian President Vladimir Putin told US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff at a meeting that 73-year-old American Stephan Hubbard, detained in 2022, was released at Donald Trump's direct request.
The US president published several posts on Truth Social about the development. "Stephan Hubbard, arrested by Russia four years ago during the Biden administration, was released from prison at the request of President Donald Trump, made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week. Stephan is coming home and will soon be with his family. The United States, out of respect for President Trump, is not obliged to give anything in return — an unprecedented situation for Russia. No 'swap' was required for this release. This important return should have happened long ago under the Biden administration, which achieved nothing in negotiations with the Kremlin. Stephan is coming home. Welcome home, Stephan, great to have you back," the post reads.
In a follow-up post, Trump noted this would not have happened if the US had imposed sanctions on Russia. "Many people who demanded immediate sanctions against Russia called President Trump to apologize for not knowing about his negotiations to free Stephan Hubbard, which is a truly important and meaningful deal for the US. If sanctions had been imposed, those negotiations would certainly have stopped completely," he wrote.
The US president also said former President Joe Biden should have taken up the matter long ago. "Biden should have gotten Hubbard out a long time ago! That's the difference between presidents!" Trump said.
Recall that in October 2024, the Moscow City Court sentenced US citizen Stephan Hubbard to six years and 10 months in a general-regime penal colony, finding him guilty of mercenary activity. The American was captured in 2022 in the Kharkiv region, where he had lived since 2014. According to the Russian investigation, he was a member of the territorial defense.