Former Cyprus resident pleads guilty in Russia to fighting for Ukraine, RIA says

Stephen James Hubbard, a 72-year-old US citizen who beforehand labored as an English trainer in Cyprus, pleaded responsible in a Moscow court docket on Monday to prices of serving as a mercenary towards Russia within the Ukraine warfare, Russia’s RIA information company reported.

Hubbard’s sister and one other relative rapidly solid doubt on his reported confession, telling Reuters he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have taken up arms at his age.

RIA mentioned Hubbard had admitted in a listening to on the Moscow Metropolis Courtroom that he had obtained cash to struggle for Ukraine towards Russia.

“Sure, I agree with the indictment,” RIA quoted him as saying.

Hubbard was positioned in pre-trial detention final week for six months. He faces a sentence of seven to fifteen years if convicted.

RIA, citing a prosecutor in court docket, mentioned Hubbard had signed a contract with a Ukrainian territorial defence unit within the jap Ukrainian metropolis of Izyum firstly of the warfare in February 2022.

The prosecution mentioned he was promised $1,000 a month and was supplied with coaching, weapons and ammunition. RIA quoted the prosecutor as saying Hubbard was detained by Russian troopers on April 2 of that yr, simply weeks after the warfare started.

Reuters was unable to verify how Hubbard was detained. His lawyer couldn’t instantly be reached. The Ukrainian Overseas Affairs Ministry didn’t instantly reply to messages in search of remark.

Hubbard’s sister, Patricia Fox, final spoke with him in September 2021, through Skype. She questioned his reported confession.

“He’s so non-military,” she instructed Reuters by cellphone. “He by no means had a gun, owned a gun, finished any of that…He’s extra of a pacifist.”

PRO-RUSSIAN VIEWS

Hubbard is one in every of a minimum of 10 Individuals behind bars in Russia, practically two months after a prisoner swap on August 1 between Moscow and the West freed three Individuals and dozens of others.

A spokesperson for the US embassy in Moscow mentioned final week it was conscious of the detention of an American citizen, however declined additional remark.

A local of the small city of Huge Rapids, Michigan, Hubbard labored for many years as an English trainer overseas, together with in Japan and Cyprus, his sister mentioned.

Fox mentioned Hubbard moved to Ukraine in 2014 and lived there for a time with a Ukrainian girl, surviving off a small pension. When she final spoke to him, he had cut up from his girlfriend and was dwelling alone in Izyum, she mentioned.

Fox mentioned she had obtained little details about her brother’s standing 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 going through the digicam and answering questions from an off-camera interviewer, who speaks with accented English.

It’s unclear the place and when it was filmed, however Fox recognized the person as her brother.

Within the video, the person says he understands why Russian President Vladimir Putin despatched troops into Ukraine and expresses hope that the warfare will finish quickly.