Diplomacy
Witkoff shook Putin's hand, and Hubbard is free.
At Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, the ninth meeting, Putin said the American held since 2022 was at the airport to fly home with the envoy. No peace deal was announced.
The Rocket News · Foreign Desk · St. PetersburgOctober 21, 2026 · 4 min read
ST. PETERSBURG — Steve Witkoff shook President Vladimir Putin’s hand on Wednesday at Constantine Palace, and Russia freed Stephen Hubbard. Reuters reported the meeting, the ninth between the envoy and Putin. The New York Times reported the release. Hubbard is 74, a retired teacher, held since April 2022 and sentenced to six years and ten months on mercenary charges that his family and his lawyer dispute. Putin said Hubbard was at the airport to fly home with Witkoff. Witkoff told Putin, “You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that.”
The talks were about the war. Neither account used here announced a peace deal. This desk is not printing a date for a later meeting. The overnight strikes, four dead, two of them in Kyiv, are on the World War desk. This note is the handshake and the man who is going home.
You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that.
The photograph is Wednesday, at the palace. Witkoff is on the left, Putin on the right, and they are shaking hands. Both men are in dark suits. Pale curtains fill the window behind them. It is the greeting. It is not a walk in Oslo, Hubbard is not in the frame, and it is not a courtroom from 2024.
Wire and further reading: reuters.com
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