Attorney Representing Stephen Hubbard: ‘We Know of Absolutely Nothing that Would Indicate This Was Anything but a Unilateral Release’

EXCERPT:

DE LUCA: “Now, as to the question of whether something was exchanged for it, we know of absolutely nothing that would indicate this was anything but a unilateral release. And it‘s not the only unilateral release, Jake. You know, we — you and I met last year when Marc Fogel had been released. And what was unique about that time was that Fogel was released and the Russians had released — sorry — and our side had released Alexander Vinnik about 24 hours later. Since then, there‘s been three unilateral releases. And those three unilateral releases, the latest one before Stephen Hubbard being Robert Gilman 10 weeks ago, those three unilateral releases are the first time in U.S.-Russia relations that unilateral releases happen from the Russian side that we are aware of. And that‘s because the Russians have traditionally always negotiated swaps. I know of nothing that would indicate they moved away from that position in terms of how they structured negotiations.”