American, 72, pleads guilty in Russia to fighting for Ukraine, RIA reports

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo of Russian police officers via Reuters

By Lucy Papachristou

LONDON (Reuters) -U.S. citizen Stephen James Hubbard pleaded guilty in a Moscow court on Monday to charges of mercenary activity, admitting that he had received money to fight for Ukraine against Russia, the RIA state news agency reported.

"Yes, I agree with the indictment," RIA cited him as saying.

Hubbard, 72, was placed in pre-trial detention last week for six months. He faces a sentence of seven to 15 years if convicted.

RIA, citing a prosecutor in court, said Hubbard had signed a contract with a Ukrainian territorial defence unit in the central city of Izyum at the start of the war in February 2022.

The prosecution said he was promised $1,000 a month and was provided with training, weapons and ammunition. Hubbard was detained by Russian soldiers on April 2 of that year, RIA quoted the prosecutor as saying.

A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Moscow said last week it was aware of the detention of an American citizen, but declined further comment.

Hubbard, a native of Michigan, had worked as an English teacher abroad for decades, including in Japan and Cyprus, his sister, Patricia Fox, told Reuters.

She denied her brother was a mercenary and said he had no interest in fighting in any war. She said Hubbard was too elderly for combat.

"He is so non-military," Fox said in a telephone interview. "He never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that...He's more of a pacifist."

She said Hubbard had moved to Ukraine in 2014 and lived there for a time with a woman, surviving off a small pension.

Fox said she had last spoken to Hubbard in September 2021, via Skype. He had split from his girlfriend and was living alone, she said.

Hubbard is one of at least 10 Americans behind bars in Russia, nearly two months after a major prisoner swap on Aug. 1 between Russia and the West freed three Americans and dozens of others.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Timothy Heritage)