Stephen Hubbard’s younger sister said the 74-year-old US citizen did not realize he was being freed Wednesday after more than four years in a Russian prison. He only understood what was happening after boarding a plane and seeing the American flag.
Patricia Hubbard Fox said her brother had no idea why he was being taken from the prison to Moscow and may even have feared he was being led to his death. She spoke Thursday in San Antonio, where Hubbard was taken for evaluation.
Since his release, Hubbard has been laughing with relief, she said. “Oh my God, you know, I’m free. This is really happening,” he told her.
President Donald Trump said he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call earlier this month to release Hubbard, a retired teacher from Michigan.
Russia had accused Hubbard of fighting alongside Ukrainian forces following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
He was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison in 2024 after closed-door court proceedings.
The Biden administration designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained, while his legal team rejected Russia’s allegations and said he had taken part in no military activity.
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Hubbard Fox said her brother endured starvation and beatings so severe that fellow Ukrainian inmates sometimes had to carry him through the prison.
She said the Russian guards knew only a few words of English, including “Die, American. Die.” Rather than surrender, Hubbard used their abuse as motivation to survive, she said. “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. His lawyers said he stayed in the country after their relationship ended.
Hubbard was living in Ukraine when Russia launched its invasion.
For a time, Hubbard Fox did not know where her brother was. She eventually learned of his whereabouts after a woman in Ukraine found her and said she had seen 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. Both siblings, she added, were eagerly anticipating a family reunion.
