MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. US citizen Stephen Hubbard, who has been freed in Russia, is returning home, Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian President’s Special Representative for Investment and Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), announced.

"Mr. Hubbard is on his way home after a phone call with President Trump arranged by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff," Dmitriev wrote on X.

He made this comment in reply to a post by the US President on Truth Social, in which Trump stated that new sanctions against Moscow would have undermined negotiations for the release of Stephen Hubbard, a US citizen convicted in Russia for participating in combat operations alongside the Ukrainian armed forces.

Hubbard was convicted of taking part in combat operations alongside the Ukrainian armed forces. On October 7, 2024, the Moscow City Court sentenced him to 6 years and 10 months in a general-regime penal colony. Hubbard confessed to the charges brought against him. The time he spent in custody since April 2022 has been credited toward his prison sentence.