Russia frees U.S. prisoner with Colorado ties
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – President Donald Trump announced Wednesday morning that a former Pueblo teacher is returning home after more than four years in a Russian Prison.
Russian forces arrested Stephen Hubbard near the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. He’s 74 years old.
Trump said on social media that Hubbard 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. Stephen is on his way back home and will soon be with his family.”
Stephen’s sister, Patricia, still lives in Chaffee County. KRDO13 has spoken with her multiple times during his Russian incarceration.
“I’ll trade my life for his. If Putin would just send him home, and he wants another life to torture, take me,” Patricia said in an interview with KRDO13 last year.
The Russian court charged Stephen with fighting for Ukrainian forces in Izyum, where he had been a teacher since 2014. Patricia denies the claim, and the United States has labeled Stephen as “Unlawfully Imprisoned.” Patricia said she has not been allowed to speak with her brother during his imprisonment.
ABC News contacted Patricia. She said she is on her way to reunite with him in San Antonio, where the United States takes all hostages for treatment following their imprisonment.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff first announced Stephen’s release during a televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia. Witkoff thanked Putin for facilitating the return.
“I want to thank you very much. The president sends his thanks,” Witkoff said to Putin. “The whole nation sends their thanks because of Stephen Hubbard. Because of you, he’s going home to his family.”
Trump said the U.S. did not give up anything in exchange for Stephen. However, he canceled scheduled sanctions on Russia earlier this week and said later Wednesday morning on social media that the negotiations would have come to a “complete and total halt” had he followed through with the sanctions.
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