Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan, is back on American soil after more than four years in Russian custody — freed, the Kremlin says, "on humanitarian grounds" as U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg this week.

Hubbard had been living in eastern Ukraine when he was detained in 2022 and later convicted by a Russian court of serving as a mercenary, a charge he has denied. NBC News reports his son said simply, "I think my father was in the wrong place at the wrong time." The U.S. government had classified his detention as wrongful throughout his imprisonment.

The timing wasn't incidental. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tied the release directly to Witkoff's trip, which is focused on the broader effort to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine — a reminder that, in this administration's dealings with Moscow, detainee releases and the larger diplomatic track have rarely moved on separate tracks.

President Trump was quick to note the release came without any exchange. "There was no 'swap' necessary for this release," he said. That framing has drawn pushback from critics who point out that the administration recently waived sanctions on Russia — a move the Washington Post notes Trump has argued helped secure Hubbard's freedom, even as opponents say it rewards Moscow in the middle of its war on Ukraine.

Reunited With Family

Hubbard arrived back in the United States overnight, and his lawyer said his first priority was simply seeing his children. The Hill reports sources differ slightly on the exact length of his detention — most put it at roughly four years — but agree he is now the latest American to come home from a Russian prison under the current administration's string of releases.

"I THINK MY FATHER WAS IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Hubbard's release brings the number of Americans the administration says it has freed from detention abroad during Trump's second term past 100 — though Hubbard himself had remained in custody even as other, more recent cases moved faster. Rubio said the administration is still pushing for the "immediate return of all other unjustly detained Americans," a list that still includes a ballerina and a musician held in Russia whose cases advocacy groups continue to press.

For now, Hubbard's family says they're simply grateful to have him home. His lawyer said the retired teacher's first priority, after four years of uncertainty, was nothing more complicated than seeing his children again — and in Michigan, where he's from, well-wishers are already planning a welcome for a man many had feared might not make it back at all.