Russia freed an American teacher four years after he was convicted there of fighting for Ukraine following a decision by President Donald Trump to offer the country sanctions relief.

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.

The prisoner release was the latest move putting the U.S. and Russia closer in lockstep, after Trump agreed to a deal to allow Russia to export diesel and waived sanctions on its energy exports. Trump has hardened his stance against Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022, saying last week that Russia was doing “fine in Ukraine,” and suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was to blame for the ongoing war and should step aside.

The moves have sparked an intense domestic backlash, with even the most supportive Republican lawmakers questioning Trump’s support of Putin.

With the release of Hubbard, Russia also indicated it was also ready “in principle” to resume trilateral talks with the U.S. and Ukraine about ending the war, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

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 other countries to kidnap or arrest Americans.

Witkoff, in his remarks, also used extraordinary language to praise Putin, who is responsible for tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian deaths.

“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian,” Witkoff told Putin. “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that. I commend you.”

His comments generated a swift response among Ukraine’s supporters, including congressional Republicans.

GOP Senator John Cornyn of Texas reposted Russia Today footage of Witkoff making the remarks with the comment: “No. Putin is a stone cold killer.”

“What an embarrassing and outrageous thing to say,” Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina wrote on social media. “You should go back to Ukraine and ask the families of the children Putin has kidnapped and murdered whether they agree your friend Putin is a ‘humanitarian.’”

Neither senator faces re-election and were already out of Trump’s good graces.

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 a subject 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 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 under way 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.

Former President Joe Biden did negotiate the return of Americans from Russian detention. In 2022, basketball star Brittney Griner was released in a one-to-one swap for a notorious arms dealer and in 2024, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and others were freed in the largest prisoner swap with Russia since the Cold War.

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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