Stephen Hubbard: Why a 74-year-old retired schoolteacher from the US remains in Russian detention
Por Liam Gilliver — – World RSS Feed
Stephen Hubbard: Why a 74-year-old retired schoolteacher from the US remains in Russian detention
Pensioner Stephen Hubbard was put in Russian custody in 2022, following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Liam Gilliver Tuesday 20 October 2026 14:14 BST
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Hopes that Stephen Hubbard will be released from Russian detention fall on discussions between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Vladimir Putin this week, according to people familiar with the matter.
Hubbard is a 74-year-old retired schoolteacher who grew up in Big Rapid, Michigan. He earned a master’s degree in English and lived in Japan for 25 years where taught English before moving to Cyprus.
In 2014, he moved to Izyum in Ukraine with a Ukrainian partner, according to his sister Patricia Hubbard Fox. Military records show that Hubbard served in the US Air Force and National Guard.
Fox said in 2024 that Hubbard was living off his pension and had few connections with local people – but the siblings haven’t spoken since September 2021.
Why was Stephen Hubbard detained by Russia?
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, capturing Izyum some two months later, Hubbard was placed in Russian custody.
Local journalists have not been able to independently establish the circumstances of his capture, but Fox said she recognised her brother in a YouTube video showing a man being questioned about his views on Putin and the war.
Another video showed him with his hands bound, being struck with a sandal. It is not known where the videos were recorded.
In a closed trial, a Moscow court convicted Hubbard of being a mercenary in October 2024. He was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison.
open image in galleryProsecutors said Hubbard had joined a Ukrainian territorial defence unit, received training, weapons and ammunition, and was promised 1,000 US Dollars (around £747.83) a month.
Russian state media claimed he had pleaded guilty to the charges he faced. Fox questioned the reported confession, arguing that Hubbard held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have taken up arms in his seventies.
Russian soldiers ‘grabbed’ Hubbard from his home, says lawyer
US-based lawyer Martin De Luca, told reporters in June 2025 that Hubbard had told him the charges against him were false and that he was not in any combat or military units. He said Hubbard told him Russian soldiers had simply grabbed him from his house.
In January 2025, Washington designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained, enabling the US government to pursue negotiations for his release.
open image in galleryThe State Department has said Russia refused to grant US officials consular access. The New York Times reported in February 2025 that Hubbard had been moved through at least five Russian detention centres before his trial.
His lawyer said Hubbard’s legal team found out only in April 2025 that he was being held in a facility in the Mordovia region, east of Moscow.
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Vladimir PutinRussiaUkraineUS Air ForceUS
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