During a meeting with US President’s Special Envoy Steve Whitcroft on 21 October, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the release of the American Steven Hubbard, who had been convicted in Russia on charges of mercenary activity. This was reported by the Russian state news agency TASS.
According to Putin, Hubbard is already at Pulkovo Airport.
In 2024, a court in Moscow sentenced 72-year-old Hubbard to six years and ten months’ imprisonment. According to the prosecution, he had been living in Ukraine since 2014 and, following the start of the Russian invasion, joined the territorial defence forces.
The meeting between Putin and Whitcroft is taking place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in St Petersburg. This is their ninth meeting.
Yuri Ushakov, the Russian President’s aide on foreign policy, has stated that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will be unable to attend the meeting with Putin in person due to illness, but is expected to join online.
The American negotiator, Whitcoff, arrived in Russia from Oslo, where on 20 October he held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European partners, including Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gar Støre.
Following the meeting, the Finnish President stated that ‘real progress’ had been made. According to him, the parties had identified ‘certain elements of a peaceful settlement’, which they would present in St Petersburg. He also reported that agreement had been reached on specific security and economic issues.
According to TASS, Putin asked Whitcoff about the outcome of the meeting in Oslo. Trump’s special envoy described the talks as productive and expressed hope that Putin would consider the possibility of resuming trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US to resolve technical issues. Whitcoff added that he had brought documents setting out approaches to resolving the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The day before, Volodymyr Zelenskyy had announced that Steve Whitcoff would present Russia with a proposal for trilateral talks involving the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and the US.
According to Zelenskyy, “one of the key ideas is to move towards a possible trilateral meeting of the leaders to resolve issues that only the leaders themselves can resolve”.
Trump commented on the possibility of direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy, noting that the leaders do not necessarily need to meet in person to reach an agreement.
“They don’t necessarily have to be in the same room. I think they can reach an agreement in other ways,” Trump told reporters on 20 October.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is currently on a visit to India, described Whitcoff’s talks with Zelenskyy in Oslo as “positive”. “Everything went well; there were no surprises or oddities. Now, armed with these ideas, he will be able to travel to St Petersburg and present them to the Russian side — let’s see if any progress can be made,” Rubio told reporters on 21 October.
Russian state media report that Whitcoff, on behalf of Donald Trump, thanked Putin for the decision on the ‘diesel agreement’.
In early October, it emerged that the leaders of the US and Russia had agreed on the supply of Russian diesel fuel to the American and global markets. Shortly afterwards, the US Treasury issued a general licence authorising transactions involving diesel fuel of Russian origin, which had previously been prohibited by US sanctions. The licence is valid until 7 April 2027.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticised this decision. According to him, easing the pressure of sanctions without agreements on de-escalation will allow Russia to continue the war.
During his talks with Whitcoff, Putin also intends to discuss a possible meeting with Trump in China. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the leaders of the US, China and Russia could meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in China on 18–19 November.
Citing sources, the publication claimed that the idea had been proposed by the Russian president. He would like to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine and try to secure support from the American and Chinese leaders for a peace deal on Russia’s terms.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga spoke out against this proposal and against any discussion of Ukraine without its participation. The EU also expressed concern.