Russia Sentences 72-Year-Old American to Jail on Mercenary Charges

A Russian court on Monday sentenced 72-year-old U.S. citizen Stephen James Hubbard to nearly seven years in prison for helping to defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

Russian prosecutors said Hubbard joined a defense unit in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. He was taken prisoner by Russian forces after the city was captured in April 2022. Ukrainian forces were able to push the Russians out of Izyum in a counteroffensive about five months later. 

The prosecution said he “systematically received material compensation” for his efforts, working out to about $1,000 per month. They also claimed Hubbard was trained and armed by the Ukrainian military.

Hubbard is a native of Big Rapids, Michigan. In a video interview posted on the Telegram messaging platform in May 2022, he said he moved to Izyum in 2014 and “lived happily with his wife.”

Hubbard supposedly confessed to the charges against him last month, but his sister Trisha Hubbard Fox has tirelessly argued that the case against him was fabricated.

“Russia’s prosecutor is lying! Steve was never a mercenary. He was an English teacher teaching English in foreign countries!” she said a Facebook post last month. 

Other family members have said Hubbard drifted away from his relatives while teaching English in countries like Japan and Cyprus over the years. Fox said her brother was living quietly in Ukraine on a pension of about $300 a month, and did not speak either Russian or Ukrainian.

Fox noted that Ukraine will not accept volunteers older than 60. Hubbard appeared frail and barely able to stand up in videos from the Russian courtroom.

“Russia knows this but to save face for kidnapping, beating and holding my brother all this time, their courts are charging Stephen James Hubbard anyway,” she charged.

The Russian government has not explained why Hubbard was held for over two years before receiving a trial. The Ukrainian foreign ministry has generally declined to comment on his case.

The Biden administration complained ineffectually on Monday that Hubbard has not been granted consular access, without even mentioning his name.

“We have limited information available about this case because Russia has refused to grant consular access. I’ll say a couple things about the case, though. The individual is 72 years old, has been held in prison for two years. He was arrested in Ukraine, not in Russia,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

“Russia should grant consular access to him for the United States, as they should any time they detain an American citizen. And we are looking at the case very closely in considering our next steps,” he said.

Pressed on the issue, Miller clarified that Russia was “refusing” to grant consular access for Hubbard.

“We’re disappointed, as we often are when they refuse to grant consular access. They have an obligation to provide it. And we’re going to continue to press for it,” he said.

Miller seemed flummoxed when reporters pressed the issue and asked how Russia could simply deny access for an American citizen they have held for over two years.

“If there’s any further information, I don’t have it here. There’s certainly no dispute of his American citizenship,” he said.