In his first comments since recently being released from a Russian prison, a retired Michigan teacher said he only believed he would be freed when he got new clothes.

Stephen Hubbard, 74, remarked on Friday that he had heard many times previously that he would be released – but never really trusted what he was told, adopting a philosophy of “seeing is believing” and “actions speak louder than words”.

“Only when they started giving me new clothes and leading me to the exit of the prison,” Hubbard said in his first public remarks since his 21 October release, which came during a visit at the White House with Donald Trump, “I went out and I saw the car, and I was accompanied by a couple of Russians, then I believed, finally believed, on the drive from Moscow to St Petersburg, ‘I’m really going somewhere.’”

Hubbard had been behind bars for more than four years on charges that he fought as a mercenary in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022. His legal team has denied the Russian accusations and said he was not involved in any military activity.

Trump has previously said that he had asked Russian leader Vladimir Putin to free Hubbard – and that the US did not have to release anyone in return.

“He was somebody I wanted to get back,” the US president said as he hosted Hubbard on Friday in the Oval Office.

The White House allowed a limited pool of journalists into Trump’s meeting with Hubbard, allowing primarily news photographers and a television crew.

Many in the international community perceived Hubbard’s release to be Russia’s latest maneuver to bring Trump closer to Putin’s position on the war in Ukraine. It also offered Trump a diplomatic victory ahead of the 3 November midterm elections, when his Republican party is expected to lose seats in Congress.

The Associated Press contributed reporting