President Donald Trump hailed the release of Stephen Hubbard from Russian custody early Wednesday, while criticizing former President Joe Biden for what he described as a failure to bring the retired teacher home sooner.
Trump said he raised the case of the 74-year-old American during a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week and personally urged him to approve Hubbard’s release.
“Stephen Hubbard, taken four years ago by Russia during the Biden Administration, was just released from prison, at the request of President Donald J. Trump, made directly to President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation last week,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president also claimed that Moscow did not seek a prisoner exchange or other concession for Hubbard’s freedom, saying the decision was made “out of respect for President Trump.”
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Trump used the announcement to intensify his criticism of Biden, arguing that the former administration should have done more to secure the American’s return.
“Biden should have done the Hubbard release long ago! What a difference a President makes!” Trump wrote in a second Truth Social post.
Hubbard, a veteran of the US Air Force and National Guard from Big Rapids, Michigan, had been living in eastern Ukraine with his Ukrainian partner when Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russian forces detained him in April 2022. In October 2024, a court convicted Hubbard of serving as a mercenary and sentenced him to six years and 10 months in prison.