US envoy's 'humanitarian' praise for Putin draws criticism after prisoner release

lefigaro.fr (French) —

US envoy Steve Witkoff praised Vladimir Putin as a "humanitarian" during a St. Petersburg meeting on October 21, thanking him for releasing American teacher Stephen Hubbard, detained since 2022. Witkoff's compliment follows his past favorable remarks about Putin, including calling him "not a bad guy" in March 2025. The release came after Trump requested it in a phone call, with no exchange involved. Hubbard, 74, was arrested in Ukraine in April 2022 and sentenced to nearly seven years for mercenary activity, charges Washington calls fabricated. Trump confirmed Hubbard was returning to his family.


With a significance score of 2.3, this news ranks in the top 20% of today's 32438 analyzed articles.

Get summaries of news with significance over 5.5 (usually ~10 stories per week). Read by 10,000+ subscribers: