Washington — U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff faced immediate backlash Wednesday for praising Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “humanitarian” after he released 74-year-old Stephen Hubbard, an American who had been imprisoned in Russia for four years and who had been determined to be wrongfully detained.
“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian,” Witkoff told Putin Wednesday in response to Hubbard’s release. “You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again.”
Witkoff made the comment in St. Petersburg during a visit with the Russian president that was aimed at moving toward a resolution of the Ukraine war that Putin started four and a half years ago. Over the past month, Russia has been intensifying its strikes against civilian and energy infrastructure to try to cripple the power grid before the brutal Ukrainian winter.
Mr. Trump was asked later in the day if he would describe Putin the same way Witkoff did. “Well, I guess you have to say for that particular purpose, for the purpose of allowing a man who was thinking he was going to be in prison for life out,” Mr. Trump said during a White House roundtable on cyber crime. “But I wouldn’t say anything one way or the other.”
Witkoff’s “humanitarian” comment sparked pushback from Republicans, some of whom have openly criticized the president and his administration in recent months.
“WTF, Steve?” wrote North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. “Look up the definition of ‘humanitarian.’ What an embarrassing and outrageous thing to say. You should go back to Ukraine and ask the families of the children Putin has kidnapped and murdered whether they agree your friend Putin is a ‘humanitarian.'”
Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas responded to a video of Witkoff’s comments: “No. Putin is a stone cold killer,” he wrote on X.
“Another embarrassment,” said Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who has been critical of the Trump administration’s handling of Russia and Ukraine.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who has also been critical of the administration, was asked about the comment on the campaign trail and replied, “I would describe Putin as a warmonger, a thug. He’s certainly not a humanitarian. He is the aggressor in the war against Ukraine.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, who served during the Bush and Obama administrations, said in an interview with CBS News that it’s “absolutely a good thing” Hubbard is coming home, “but he should never have been there in the first place.”
“We should not give the Russians any credit for releasing someone who should not have been in jail,” Taylor said. “And to call Putin a humanitarian, that’s cringeworthy.”
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa said Putin is “not our friend.”
“Vladimir Putin is not our friend, and he is certainly no humanitarian,” she posted on X. “His relentless attacks on innocent civilians in Ukraine show his total disregard for human life. Appeasement won’t end this war. Pressure will.”
Witkoff’s praise of Putin also comes as Mr. Trump made the surprise move last week to waive new U.S. sanctions on Russia two days before they were supposed to go into effect, defying Congress and his late friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham. The waivers came one week after Mr. Trump had eased sanctions on Russian diesel and announced a deal with Putin to import diesel to the U.S. market.
Mr. Trump has expressed increasing frustration with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and on Tuesday, said “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven’t been doing much.”
Before heading to Russia, Witkoff was in Oslo, Norway, where he met with and embraced Zelenskyy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described that meeting as “positive.”
