US envoy seeks release of 74-year-old American held in Russia
What's next: Steve Witkoff is expected to raise Stephen Hubbard's case with Vladimir Putin as Washington presses a wrongful-detention claim.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff plans to press for the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American imprisoned in Russia, in talks with President Vladimir Putin this week. Hubbard, a retired schoolteacher from Michigan, was seized after Russian forces took Izyum in eastern Ukraine in 2022. A Moscow court convicted him in a closed trial in October 2024 on mercenary charges and sentenced him to six years and 10 months in prison. Washington designated him wrongfully detained in January 2025. Hubbard's family and his US lawyer dispute the case, saying he was not serving in a combat unit. His legal team said it learned only in April 2025 that he was being held in Mordovia, east of Moscow.