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WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday hosted the recently released American inmate Stephen Hubbard at the White House — with the retired English teacher and veteran telling Trump he “wouldn’t have lasted another year” in Russian custody.
Hubbard, 73, was arrested in eastern Ukraine, where he lived with his partner, in 2022 following the full-scale Russian invasion of the country. He was given a nearly seven-year jail sentence for acting as a mercenary, which he denied.
“I wouldn’t have lasted another year,” Hubbard told Trump in the Oval Office.
Trump secured Hubbard’s release on Oct. 21 following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin — with his freedom coming less than two weeks after Trump announced he was waiving US sanctions on Russian diesel in an effort to tamp down surging global costs.
Hubbard, an Air Force and National Guard veteran, recalled dodging Ukrainian shells while initially in Russian custody near the front lines of the war, recalling how “I was scrambling too” alongside the troops that captured him.
Later in his incarceration, he said he had all but given up hope on being freed.
“I had heard it many times before, and I reached the state where seeing is believing,” he said.
“I never trusted what they said. Only when they started giving me new clothes and leading me to the exit of the prison — I went out and I saw the car, and I was accompanied by a couple of Russians. Then I believed, finally believed, on the drive from Moscow to St. Petersburg, I’m really going somewhere.”
Hubbard’s son joined him at the greeting and said he feared his dad was going to die in Russia and is now eating more protein to regain his strength.
Trump remarked of the former captive, “you look very healthy. I mean, you have no weight problem.”
“It’s an honor to have you back. It’s a great honor,” Trump said.
