American Citizen Jailed in Russia for Mercenary Role in Ukraine

A Russian court sentenced a 72-year-old American to nearly seven years in prison on Monday after he was convicted of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine. 

Investigators claimed during a closed-door trial that Stephen Hubbard of Michigan was paid $1,000 a month to join a Ukrainian defense unit in Izyum, a city in eastern Ukraine where he had been living since 2014.  

Russian investigators and state media reported that Hubbard received training and weapons after he allegedly signed up for the mercenary unit in February 2022. He was reportedly detained by Russian soldiers two months later and subsequently pleaded guilty to charges of fighting as a mercenary. 

Hubbard was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison. According to the Associated Press, he is the first American known to have been convicted on charges of fighting as a mercenary.  

 

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 15 years, but Russian news reports said that prosecutors requested a lighter sentence considering Hubbard’s age and his admission of guilt. 

Last month, Hubbard’s sister Patricia Hubbard Fox and another relative told Reuters that he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have engaged in combat at his age. 

Russian state media is reporting that Hubbard plans to appeal the verdict. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Digital.

 

A court in the Russian city of Voronezh also sentenced American Robert Gilman on Monday to seven years and one month for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers while serving a sentence for another assault. 

Gilman, was arrested in 2022 for causing a disturbance while intoxicated on a passenger train, and then allegedly assaulted a police officer while in custody, according to Russian news reports. He is already serving a 3 1/2-year sentence on that charge. 

State news agency RIA-Novosti said that last year, he assaulted a prison inspector during a cell check, then hit an official of the Investigative Committee, resulting in the new sentence.