Russia frees US citizen Stephen Hubbard, state media reports

President Vladimir Putin says Russia has agreed to release an American citizen who was jailed for allegedly fighting on behalf of Ukraine, state media is reporting.

Stephen Hubbard has been taken to Pulkovo Airport, Putin said, during talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff in St Petersburg.

Hubbard, originally from Michigan, was 72 when he was sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony in 2024.

Prosecutors had accused him of serving in a defence unit in the eastern city of Izyum when he was captured by Russian forces two years earlier.

The US State Department had previously classified Hubbard as "wrongfully detained", and on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said that he had raised Hubbard's case with Putin.

"Watch what happens," Trump told reporters, "we have been focused ⁠on ​Hubbard".

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.