President Vladimir Putin announced the release of US national Stephen Hubbard during talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St.

Petersburg on Wednesday, DW reported. Hubbard, originally from Michigan, was 72 when he was sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony in 2024, the BBC reported. The US State Department had classified him as “wrongfully detained”, and on Tuesday President Donald Trump said he had raised the case with Putin.