Stephen Hubbard’s younger sister said the 74-year-old US citizen did not realize he was being freed after more than four years in a Russian prison until he boarded a plane and saw the American flag.
Patricia Hubbard Fox said Thursday that her brother had no idea why he was being taken from the prison to Moscow. He may even have feared he was being taken to his death, she said, during an interview in San Antonio, where Hubbard was brought for evaluation.
“He’s been kind of laughing a lot,” Hubbard Fox said. “Like relief laughing. ‘Oh my God, you know, I’m free. This is really happening.’”
President Donald Trump said he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call earlier this month to release Hubbard, a retired Michigan teacher.
Russian authorities accused Hubbard of fighting alongside Ukrainian forces after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
He was sentenced in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison following closed court proceedings.
The Biden administration had classified Hubbard as wrongfully detained. His lawyers also rejected Russia’s accusations, saying he had taken part in no military activity.
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Hubbard Fox said her brother endured severe starvation and beatings in prison. At times, Ukrainian inmates had to carry him, she said.
“The only English they knew was ‘Die, American. Die,’” she said of the Russian guards. Their words only strengthened his determination to survive, she added. “And that just made him mad enough to not die, you know? ‘I’ll show them.’ I’m so proud of him.”
A US Air Force veteran, Hubbard taught English abroad before retiring in 2012 to Cyprus, where one of his sons serves as an Orthodox Christian priest.
He later relocated to Ukraine to live with a woman he had met, according to his lawyers. He stayed in the country after their relationship ended.
Hubbard was living in Ukraine when Russia invaded.
Hubbard Fox said she had no idea where her brother was until a woman in Ukraine contacted her after finding his name on a prison roster.
“God doesn’t answer prayers immediately sometimes, but he always answers my prayer,” Hubbard Fox said. “And I said, ‘Jesus, get him home.’”
In a separate interview Wednesday, she said Hubbard would likely move in with her in Colorado. The siblings were also looking forward to bringing the family together for a reunion.
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