Elderly US citizen pleads guilty in Russia to fighting for Ukraine | Conflict messages

Stephen James Hubbard, 72, reportedly fought in Izjum before being captured by Russian forces in April 2022.

Stephen James Hubbard, a US citizen, has pleaded guilty in a Moscow court to charges of fighting for Ukraine as a mercenary, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

RIA said Hubbard, 72, admitted in a Moscow City Court hearing on Monday that he was paid to fight for Ukraine against Russia.

“Yes, I agree with the prosecution,” RIA quoted him as saying.

Last week, a court ordered Hubbard to be remanded in custody until March 26, 2025. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of between seven and 15 years.

Hubbard's sister Patricia Fox disputed his reported confession, saying her brother was too old to fight. She said he has been living in Ukraine since 2014 and that she last spoke to him via Skype in September 2021.

“He is so unmilitary,” she told Reuters by telephone. “He never had a gun, never owned a gun, never did any of that…He's more of a pacifist.”

Quoting a prosecutor in court, RIA said Hubbard signed a contract with a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Izyum at the start of the war in February 2022.

Prosecutors said he was promised $1,000 a month and was provided with training, weapons and ammunition. RIA quoted the prosecutor as saying that Hubbard was captured by Russian soldiers on April 2 of that year, just weeks after Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is unclear how he got to Moscow.

English teacher

Hubbard is one of at least 10 Americans behind bars in Russia, nearly two months after an August 1 prisoner swap between Moscow and the West led to the release of three Americans and dozens of others.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in the Russian capital said in a statement last week that it was aware that one of its citizens had been arrested, referring to Hubbard, but declined to comment further.

Originally from Big Rapids, Michigan, Hubbard worked as an English teacher abroad for decades, including in Japan and Cyprus, his sister said.

Fox added that her brother lived with a Ukrainian woman for a while and survived on a small pension. The last time she spoke to him, he had separated from his partner and was living alone, she said.

Fox said she received little information about her brother's status for months until a video surfaced online.

The video, posted on YouTube in May 2022 by an account with just over 100 followers, shows a bearded man in a brown sweater sitting in front of the camera and answering questions from an off-camera interviewer who speaks in accented English.

It's unclear where and when it was filmed, 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.