72-Year-Old Oregon Teacher Jails in Russia for Allegedly Fighting for Ukraine

A Russian court has sentenced an American to nearly seven years in prison for allegedly fighting on the side of Ukraine, writes The Straits Times. Family and lawyers believe the charges are rigged and are fighting for Stephen Hubbard's release, reports Reuters.

Photo: Vsevolod Chuvanov | Dreamstime.com

On September 72, 30, 2024-year-old US citizen Stephen James Hubbard, a former school teacher, was sentenced by the Moscow City Court to six years and ten months of imprisonment in a general regime colony on charges of acting as a mercenary in the war on the side of Ukraine.

The trial was held behind closed doors, and according to Russian state media, Hubbard admitted his guilt. However, his family and lawyers in the United States categorically deny that Hubbard was involved in the fighting. They claim that he was kidnapped by the Russian military and is the victim of an unfair accusation.

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According to Russian prosecutors, Hubbard is a native of Big Rapids, Michigan. In February 2022, he signed a contract with the Ukrainian territorial defense unit in the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region. Prosecutors say the defendant received a monthly salary of $1000, as well as training, weapons, and ammunition. Hubbard was detained by Russian troops on April 2, 2022, shortly after Izyum was captured by Russian forces. The city was liberated by the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the fall of 2022.

At a hearing on September 30, 2024, in Moscow City Court, Hubbard said, “Yes, I agree with the charges,” according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. The court sentenced him to six years and 4700 months in a general regime penal colony and ordered him to pay the state about $7. The mercenary charge carries a sentence of seven to 15 years in prison under Russian law, but prosecutors sought a lighter sentence given Hubbard’s age and his guilty plea. His lawyer plans to appeal, according to Russian media, although Reuters was unable to reach him for confirmation.

Hubbard's sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, and another unnamed relative expressed serious doubts about the veracity of his confession.

"Stephen is not a military man at all," Fox said. "He's never held a gun, owned a gun, or done anything like that... He's more of a pacifist."

According to her, Hubbard held pro-Russian views, which makes his participation in military operations extremely unlikely, especially given his age.

Fox confirmed that she last spoke to her brother in September 2021 via Skype.

According to his sister, Hubbard spent decades teaching English abroad, including in Japan and Cyprus.

According to his sister, Hubbard moved to Ukraine in 2014, where he lived with a Ukrainian woman he called his wife on a modest pension of about $300 a month. By the time of their last conversation, he had broken up with the girlfriend and was living alone in Izyum, a city in eastern Ukraine near the border with Russia. Hubbard, according to his sister, spoke neither Russian nor Ukrainian and had little contact with locals, making him an isolated figure.

Fox received little information about her brother's condition for several months.

In May 2022, a video was posted on YouTube showing a bearded man in a brown sweater sitting in front of a camera and answering questions from an off-camera interviewer speaking in English with an accent.

It is unclear where or when the recording was made, but Fox identified the man as her brother.

In the video, the man says he understands why Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine and expresses hope that the war will end soon.

Hubbard's U.S. attorney, Martin De Luca, said his team only learned of Hubbard's whereabouts in April 2025, making him a prime candidate for return in a possible prisoner swap.

After Hubbard's trial, De Luca and his team at an American law firm began working to secure his release.

"We took on this case at the end of February. Finding Hubbard was not easy, because Russia is still a functioning state. There are laws, bureaucratic procedures," he said.

The team eventually managed to locate Hubbard in a penal colony in Molochnitsa, a very small town about seven hours' drive from Moscow.

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De Luca said they had spoken to Hubbard three times since April. He said his client was weak after months in a prison camp.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said last week that diplomats were aware of the U.S. citizen's detention but declined to comment further.

There are concerns in Washington that Moscow may be deliberately detaining US citizens on trumped-up charges in order to use them as bargaining chips to free Russians convicted of serious crimes abroad.

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