Stephen Hubbard, a 72-year-old U.S. citizen, has pleaded guilty in a Moscow court to charges of mercenary activity for receiving money to fight for Ukraine against invading Russian forces, Russian state-run media reported, which his family members immediately questioned.
"Yes, I agree with the indictment," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Hubbard as saying in the courtroom during the hearing on September 30.
Prosecutors have alleged that Hubbard signed a contract with a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in the town of Izyum as Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The prosecution said Hubbard agreed to fight for Ukraine for $1,000 a month and allegedly received training, weapons, and ammunition.
Hubbard was detained by Russian soldiers on April 2, 2022.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has not commented on the situation due to what it called privacy restrictions.
Last week, the same court placed Hubbard, a native of Michigan, in pretrial detention until at least March 26, 2025.
Hubbard's previous pretrial restrictions remain unknown as there were no reports or official statements about his arrest or how he ended up in Moscow.
Hubbard's sister, Patricia Fox, and another relative expressed doubts on the man's reported confession, telling Reuters that he was pro-Russian and could not take up arms to fight against Russians, especially at his age.
"He is so nonmilitary. He never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that...He's more of a pacifist," Patricia Fox told Reuters by phone, adding that she talked to her brother last time in September 2021.
Fox confirmed earlier reports by Russian media, saying that Hubbard moved to Ukraine in 2014 and lived there for a time with a Ukrainian woman. She added that Hubbard split with his girlfriend and moved to the town of Izyum in Ukraine's eastern region of Kharkiv, where he stayed alone.
Fox also said that in late May 2022, three months after Russia launched its ongoing full-scale aggression against Ukraine, she saw a video distributed by a YouTube channel with just over 100 subscribers, on which she recognized her brother, saying he witnessed Ukrainian armed forces "shelling Izyum for propaganda purposes and to create panic among local residents."
In the video, Hubbard answers questions by a person not seen on camera, saying that he understands why Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine and expresses hope that the war will end soon.
It was not clear in what circumstances and where the video was taken.
Moscow has been accused of targeting U.S. citizens by detaining them on trumped-up charges to later use as bargaining chips in talks to bring back Russians convicted of crimes in the United States and other Western nations.
At least 10 U.S. citizens, including Hubbard, remain behind bars in Russia after a prisoner swap on August 1 involving 16 people that Moscow agreed to free in exchange for eight Russians convicted of crimes and serving prison terms in the United States and Europe.
U.S. citizens RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were among those released by Russia.
