Russia freed an American teacher four years after he was convicted of fighting for Ukraine following a decison by President Donald Trump to ease sanctions on the country.

Stephen Hubbard, 74, has already been taken to Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday during a meeting in the city.

Trump said the U.S. had not been required to give anything in return for Hubbard’s release, but in a subsequent post, confirmed the sanctions relief came amid talks for Hubbard’s release.

“If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt,” he wrote.

That revelation was an extraordinary admission given past presidents’ reluctance to make such a massive concession for hostage releases. Their fear was that doing so would only encourage Russia to seize more Americans.

Hubbard’s whereabouts were unknown early Wednesday.

The State Department had labeled Hubbard “wrongfully detained” in 2025, indicating that the U.S. believes his arrest and trial were illegitimate. He was sentenced to more than six years in a penal colony for allegedly acting as a mercenary for Ukraine.

His release had been one of the subjects of talks between Russian officials and U.S. envoys Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have been trying since the start of Trump’s second term to negotiate an end to the full-scale conflict that began in 2022.

Trump hailed the move in a social media post, saying the U.S. “was not required to give anything in return - an unprecedented situation for Russia.”

Witkoff arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to meet with Russian leadership, after discussing the war with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo on Tuesday. Zelenskyy called those talks “positive.”

In recent weeks, Trump has sought to entice Putin to the negotiating table, pushing to allow for the sale of Russian diesel fuel overseas and waiving sanctions and tariffs set to be imposed under a law he recently signed.

Trump had hinted earlier this week that a deal might be in the works, and ABC News reported that the U.S. was closing in on a deal to release multiple Americans from Russia. Russian officials had also said talks were underway via intelligence channels, and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe visited in August.

Trump has regularly touted the release of Americans held captive abroad as a sign of his good rapport with Putin and other foreign leaders. In August, Russia released former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman, a move that Trump said came about after he spoke with Putin.

Successive U.S. governments have argued that Russia seizes Americans on illegitimate charges to use as leverage in negotiations — a tactic known as hostage diplomacy.

Hubbard lived in eastern Ukraine and was detained shortly after Russia invaded the region in 2022. He had spent years in Japan and Cyprus before moving there, according to the New York Times. Russia accused him of manning a checkpoint for Ukrainian defense forces, though he denied having done so, the newspaper said.

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