{
  "id": 15880276,
  "title": "Putin says Russia has freed US citizen Stephen Hubbard",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/21/putin-says-russia-has-freed-us-citizen-stephen-hubbard-15880276",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-21T11:10:42.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The National Business",
    "slug": "the-national-business",
    "url": "https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/europe/2026/10/21/putin-says-russia-has-freed-us-citizen-stephen-hubbard/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday that US citizen Stephen Hubbard, who had been detained in Russian custody since 2022, had been freed and was currently at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport. Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired US schoolteacher from Michigan, had been serving a nearly seven-year prison sentence after being convicted of mercenary activity at a closed-door trial. He was initially arrested in April 2022 in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum, where Russian prosecutors claimed he had been manning a Ukrainian military checkpoint. Hubbard's arrest stemmed from allegations that he had joined a Ukrainian territorial defense unit, received training, weapons, and a monthly salary of $1,000. His US-based lawyer, Martin De Luca, previously maintained that the charges against Hubbard were false and that he was never part of any combat or military unit. Hubbard, who had served in the US Air Force and National Guard and held a master's degree in English, had earned international recognition as the sole US prisoner designated as \"wrongfully detained\" by Washington. Upon his release, Putin proposed a meeting with US President Donald Trump in China, with the Kremlin also suggesting the possibility of three-way talks involving Russian President Xi Jinping during an APEC summit in China next month. In addition, Putin offered to discuss restoring economic cooperation between Moscow and Washington. The meeting in St. Petersburg, Putin's ninth in-person encounter with Witkoff, began with Russia's goodwill gesture of releasing Hubbard.",
  "summary": "Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old US citizen held in Russian custody since 2022, had been freed and was at St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport. US President Donald Trump had said on Tuesday he raised Mr Hubbard's detention with Mr Putin and hinted that a development in the case could happen soon. Mr Putin made the announcement at a meeting with US…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 5,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Al Jazeera",
        "title": "Witkoff in Russia for Putin meeting after ‘positive’ talks with Zelenskyy",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/21/witkoff-in-russia-for-putin-meeting-after-positive-talks-with",
        "published": "2026-10-21T07:37:19.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "CBS News",
        "title": "American Stephen Hubbard released by Russia, Steve Witkoff says",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/21/american-stephen-hubbard-released-by-russia-steve-witkoff-says",
        "published": "2026-10-21T09:58:58.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The National UAE",
        "title": "Putin says Russia has freed US citizen Stephen Hubbard",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/21/putin-says-russia-has-freed-us-citizen-stephen-hubbard-15878006",
        "published": "2026-10-21T11:10:42.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Jerusalem Post",
        "title": "Russia releases wrongfully detained US citizen Hubbard following Witkoff-Putin meeting",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/21/russia-releases-wrongfully-detained-us-citizen-hubbard-following",
        "published": "2026-10-21T11:28:51.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}