U.S. calls on Russia to release 72-year-old American citizen jailed for fighting for Ukraine

The U.S. government is calling on Moscow to release American citizen Stephen Hubbard, who was imprisoned in Russia last year, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said during a press briefing on Thursday.

Hubbard, 72, was sentenced in October 2024 to six years and ten months in a Russian prison on charges of mercenary activity. According to state investigators, he joined Ukraine’s territorial defense forces in the city of Izyum in February 2022. He was captured by Russian forces in April 2022 and later put on trial, where he pleaded guilty.

In her opening remarks, Bruce mentioned Hubbard twice in the context of the release of Ksenia Karelina, a dual Russian-American citizen who was freed in a prisoner exchange earlier that day. “[One] thing I want to reinforce […] is calling on Russia to release Stephen Hubbard, who has been detained for nearly three years. We continue to work to free Mr. Hubbard and all other Americans unjustly detained, and we have not forgotten about all those Russia continues to detain in this manner, to say the least,” Bruce said.

Asked whether the exchange was linked to recent talks between Russian and U.S. delegations in Istanbul, Bruce replied, “I think that the President’s been very clear that there is one thing on the table with Russia, which is the ceasefire.” However, she added, “especially also with Stephen Hubbard still being detained [in Russia], it’s clear that this is an ongoing framework.”

According to a CNN source, Kirill Dmitriev — head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the president’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries — played a key role in Thursday’s prisoner swap. The source said that negotiations had been ongoing for some time but were finalized after Dmitriev’s visit to Washington on April 2–3.