Stephen James Hubbard, 72, was reportedly preventing in Izyum earlier than being captured by Russian forces in April 2022.
Stephen James Hubbard, a US citizen, pleaded responsible in a Moscow court docket to fees of preventing as a mercenary for Ukraine, in accordance with the Russian information company RIA Novosti.
RIA mentioned Hubbard, 72, admitted at a Moscow Metropolis Court docket listening to on Monday that he had been paid to struggle for Ukraine in opposition to Russia.
“Sure, I agree with the accusation,” RIA mentioned.
Final week, a court docket ordered Hubbard remanded in custody till March 26, 2025. He faces a sentence of between seven and 15 years if convicted.
Hubbard’s sister, Patricia Fox, disputed his confession, saying her brother was too outdated to struggle. She mentioned he had been residing in Ukraine since 2014 and he or she had final spoken to him on Skype in September 2021.
“He isn’t a navy man,” he informed Reuters information company by telephone. “He by no means owned a gun, had a gun, or did something like that… He is extra of a pacifist.”
RIA, citing a prosecutor in court docket, mentioned Hubbard had signed a contract with a Ukrainian territorial protection unit within the northeastern Ukrainian metropolis of Izyum at the beginning of the conflict in February 2022.
Prosecutors mentioned he had been promised $1,000 a month and offered coaching, weapons and ammunition. RIA quoted the prosecutor as saying that Hubbard was captured by Russian troopers on April 2 of that yr, simply weeks after Moscow started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It’s not clear how he ended up in Moscow.
english trainer
Hubbard is one in every of not less than 10 People behind bars in Russia, almost two months after an Aug. 1 prisoner swap between Moscow and the West that noticed the discharge of three People and dozens of others.
A spokesman for the US embassy within the Russian capital mentioned in an announcement final week that it was conscious that one in every of its residents had been detained, referring to Hubbard, however declined to remark additional.
Initially from Huge Rapids, Michigan, Hubbard labored for many years as an English trainer overseas, together with in Japan and Cyprus, his sister mentioned.
Fox added that his brother had lived with a Ukrainian lady for a time and survived on a small pension. The final time she spoke to him, he had separated from his associate and was residing alone, she mentioned.
Fox mentioned he had obtained little details about his brother’s situation for months till a video surfaced on-line.
The video, posted to YouTube in Could 2022 by an account with simply over 100 followers, exhibits a bearded man in a brown sweater sitting in entrance of the digital camera and answering questions from an off-camera interviewer, who speaks with an English accent.
It is unclear the place and when it was filmed, however Fox recognized the person as his brother.
Within the video, the person says he understands why Russian President Vladimir Putin despatched troops to Ukraine and expresses hope that the conflict will finish quickly.
