In brief
Stephen James Hubbard, a 73-year-old American teacher, has been located after months of searching. The retired educator was captured by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine shortly after the invasion.
In recent weeks, he reached out to his son, confirming his whereabouts in a Russian penal colony in Mordovia. Designated by the U.S. State Department as "wrongfully detained," Hubbard was convicted in October 2022 of being a mercenary. He was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison following accusations of manning a checkpoint for Ukraine. His case remains highly controversial, with his family lacking access to crucial information after a judge obscured his file. As the only American with this designation in Russia, Hubbard could play a pivotal role in any future discussions of prisoner exchanges between the U.S. and Russia.
