Russia frees jailed American Stephen Hubbard during Witkoff talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the release of US captive Stephen Hubbard during talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

Hubbard had been taken captive by Russian forces on charges of being a mercenary, which he denies. He was sentenced to seven years in prison at a closed trial in 2024.

Putin said Hubbard was at the airport and Witkoff said he was now "going home to his family."

US President Donald Trump later said that he had made the request directly to Putin during a phone call last week.

"The United States, out of respect for President Trump, was not required to give anything in return - an unprecedented situation for Russia," Trump claimed in a post on his Truth Social platform. "There was no 'swap' necessary for this release."

However, in a follow-up post, Trump also claimed that "numerous people" had called him to apologize after they criticized him for suspending a new round of sanctions, which he said was a necessary concession.

"If sanctions would have been placed, certainly those negotiations would have come to a complete and total halt," Trump's post said.

Putin, Witkoff to discuss Ukraine peace deal

The release of Hubbard was seen as a goodwill gesture to the Trump administreation as the two sides discuss a peace deal in Ukraine.

"We've brought some papers. It's really some ideas, some sort of peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, and you'll read that at your leisure," Witkoff told Putin.

Putin proposed that Witkoff discuss the restoration of bilateral ties between Washington and Moscow, and the possibility of trilateral talks with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

The meeting — the ninth such talks between Witkoff and Putin —comes a day after Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Norway, which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as "positive."

"He will now, armed with those ideas, be able to ‌go to St. Petersburg and share them with the Russian side, and ‌let's ​see if we can make some progress," he said ahead of the talks.

Witkoff to return to Oslo

Witkoff's meeting with Zelenskyy and other European leaders in Oslo has brought fresh momentum to peace efforts, more than 4 years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader remained in Oslo on Wednesday where met with lawmakers in the Norwegian parliament.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said that Witkoff planned to return to Oslo for further consultations after his trip to St. Petersburg.

"I think we may have entered a phase now where the Russians are also looking for opportunities for diplomacy," he told Norway's public broadcaster NRK on Wednesday morning.

Nevertheless, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was willing to listen but that he didn't expect any "miracle." Trump on Tuesday reiterated that he wants Zelenskyy "to make a deal."