Stephen James Hubbard, 72, was allegedly preventing in Izyum earlier than being captured by Russian forces in April 2022.
In accordance with the Russian Sputnik Information Company, American citizen Stephen James Hubbard has pleaded responsible in a Moscow courtroom to expenses of preventing as a Ukrainian mercenary.
RIA Novosti mentioned that the 72-year-old Hubbard admitted at a listening to within the Moscow Metropolis Courtroom on Monday that he had been employed to combat for Ukraine towards Russia.
“Sure, I agree with the indictment,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.
Final week, the courtroom ordered Hubbard to be held in pretrial detention till March 26, 2025.
Hubbard’s sister, Patricia Fox, solid doubt on his reported confession, saying her brother was too outdated to combat. She mentioned he had been dwelling in Ukraine since 2014 and the final time she spoke to him by way of Skype was in September 2021.
“He was so demilitarized,” she instructed Reuters by cellphone. “He by no means had a gun, owned a gun, did something… He was extra of a pacifist.”
RIA Novosti quoted a courtroom prosecutor as saying that Hubbard signed a contract with the Ukrainian Territorial Protection Forces within the northeastern Ukrainian metropolis of Izyum in February 2022 when the struggle started.
Prosecutors mentioned he was promised $1,000 a month and supplied with coaching, weapons and ammunition. RIA Novosti quoted prosecutors as saying Hubbard was captured by Russian troopers on April 2 of that 12 months, simply weeks after Moscow started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It’s unclear how he got here to Moscow.
English instructor
Hubbard is one among not less than 10 People jailed in Russia, almost two months after an Aug. 1 prisoner swap between Moscow and Western nations freed three People and dozens of others.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy within the Russian capital mentioned in an announcement final week that they have been conscious of the detention of a Russian citizen, referring to Hubbard, however declined to remark additional.
Hubbard, who was from Grand Rapids, Miss., spent many years as an English instructor overseas, together with in Japan and Cyprus, his sister mentioned.
Fox added that her brother lived for a time with a Ukrainian girl, surviving on a meager pension. She mentioned when she final spoke to him he had break up from his associate and was dwelling alone.
Fox mentioned she had acquired little information about her brother’s situation for months till a video surfaced on-line.
The video, posted to YouTube in Might 2022 by an account with simply over 100 followers, reveals a bearded man in a brown sweater sitting dealing with the digicam and answering questions from an off-camera interviewer. Speaks English with an accent.
It is unclear the place or when the taking pictures happened, however Fox confirmed the person was her brother.
Within the video, the person mentioned he understood why Russian President Vladimir Putin despatched troops to Ukraine and expressed hope that the struggle would finish as quickly as attainable.
