President Trump celebrated Stephen Hubbard’s release from Russian custody early Wednesday while criticizing former President Joe Biden for allowing the retired teacher to remain detained for so long.
Trump said he personally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure the 74-year-old prisoner’s release during a phone conversation last week.
“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.
He also said Russia did not seek a prisoner “swap” for Hubbard, attributing the decision to “respect for President Trump.”
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The president further accused Biden of failing to do enough to bring the American citizen home.
“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 US Air Force and National Guard veteran from Big Rapids, Michigan, was living in eastern Ukraine with his Ukrainian partner when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russian forces detained him in April 2022. In October 2024, he was convicted of being a mercenary and sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison.
