DOMINANT ANGLE
The United States views the episode through the lens of domestic politics: the release of Stephen Hubbard becomes a presidential victory, while the word "humanitarian" addressed to Putin by Steve Witkoff fuels controversy.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Stephen Hubbard, 74, detained since 2022 and the last American deemed a "wrongful detainee" by the State Department, was released Wednesday, according to CBS News.
- 02
Donald Trump claims the release was made without an exchange, but that it would not have happened without the suspension of new sanctions against Russia (CBS News, The Hill).
- 03
Steve Witkoff told Vladimir Putin: "You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that" (CNBC, NBC News, Time).
ANALYSIS
Washington, October 21, 2026. For the American press, Steve Witkoff's visit to Saint Petersburg opens and is summed up first with one face: that of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired teacher from Michigan, released on Wednesday after more than four years of detention. CBS News recalls that he was the last American formally qualified as "wrongfully detained" by the State Department. NPR specifies that he was sentenced in 2024, after a closed trial, to nearly seven years in prison for alleged mercenarism.
Donald Trump claims the result on Truth Social: the release was obtained at his request, during a call with Vladimir Putin the previous week, and the United States "had nothing to give in return". He adds that there was "no exchange". Fox News extensively reprints this message, including the phrase "Biden should have done the Hubbard release long ago". The Hill and CBS note, however, that the president himself linked the release to his decision to suspend new sanctions against Moscow, which he says he preserved in order not to interrupt the negotiation.
The sequence that attracts the most attention is the video of the opening of the meeting. Steve Witkoff thanks Putin: "You talk so much about President Trump as a humanitarian; you are one too, sir, and I salute that." CBS emphasizes that the emissary addresses these praises to the leader who ordered the invasion of Ukraine. NBC sees a sign of rapprochement and estimates that the release offers Trump "a victory to claim" after the criticism, in the United States and abroad, of his shift away from Kiev. The Hill recalls that the president has already faced criticism from his own camp over Russian diesel imports and the waiver of sanctions.
On the substance of the negotiation, Axios reports that Steve Witkoff presented an updated proposal and requested the resumption of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States, following discussions in Oslo with Volodymyr Zelensky. CBS reports that Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov promised to study the proposals but warned that the discussions would be long, and that Moscow expects Kiev to make "necessary decisions". A meeting between Trump, Putin, and Xi Jinping was deemed "possible" by the Russian side, an idea that Kiev refuses in the absence of Ukraine. CNBC quotes Volodymyr Zelensky: "Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine".
The security guarantees mentioned in Oslo, including NATO's Article 5 according to CNBC, remain in the background of the American coverage, as well as the strikes on Russian refineries requested by Jared Kushner, mentioned by Axios.
