Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Mike Crapo (R-ID), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, marked 2026 Hostage Week by renewing calls for the release of Stephen Hubbard, the Idaho-connected American detained in Russia after being taken from eastern Ukraine during Moscow’s 2022 invasion.
“This Hostage Week, Americans across the country come together to send a unified message to those who are wrongfully detained around the world: we have not forgotten you and we never will,” the senators told Breitbart News in an exclusive joint statement.
“In particular, we think this week of Stephen Hubbard, who is being detained without cause in a Russian prison,” they continued. “Stephen is 74, in declining health, and has a family who loves him back in Idaho.”
“We will do everything in our power to ensure his release, including working alongside the Administration to punish Russia and other bad actors who take Americans hostage,” the senators said.
“Through penalties under the Countering Wrongful Detention Act, we will show these nations that Americans aren’t to be messed with abroad, used for hostage diplomacy, or any other evil cause,” they added. “This practice must end.”
The lawmakers also thanked hostage and wrongful detention advocates who traveled to Washington during Hostage Week.
“We stand with you,” the senators concluded. “We look forward to shaking the hands of Mr. Hubbard and other wrongful detainees on that happy future day when they are released, but until then we will continue our work.”
Crapo previously highlighted Hubbard’s detention in February 2025, writing on X, “Today is Stephen Hubbard’s 73rd birthday. Stephen is an American wrongfully detained in Russia. His family in Idaho and elsewhere across the country are hopeful @POTUS’s strong leadership will bring him home soon.”
Crapo’s X post linked to a New York Times (NYT) report detailing Hubbard’s detention after Russian forces seized the eastern Ukrainian city of Izium in 2022, as well as accounts from former prisoners and family members describing his reported treatment in Russian custody. The Times described Hubbard as a retired American English teacher who had spent decades abroad living in Japan, Cyprus, and eventually Ukraine before the war upended his life.
The Times reported that Russian authorities accused Hubbard of fighting for Ukraine as a mercenary and later sentenced him to nearly seven years in a penal colony, claims disputed by Hubbard’s family, former Ukrainian prisoners held alongside him, and the U.S. government. The State Department later designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained, indicating Washington believed the charges were fabricated.
The February 2025 report included graphic accounts from former Ukrainian prisoners who said Hubbard endured repeated beatings, little food, poor medical care, and degrading treatment while imprisoned. One former detainee alleged Russian guards terrorized prisoners with dogs, forced men to stand for hours, beat inmates’ ankles, and stripped prisoners naked in freezing basement conditions for weeks after scabies spread through the facility. Former prisoners also told the newspaper Hubbard was singled out because he was American, with guards allegedly telling him, “We know you’re an American. You’re dead here!”
The report further detailed Hubbard’s deteriorating health in custody, including kidney, stomach, and rectal problems, while his sister, Patricia Hubbard Fox, told the newspaper Russian authorities had taken “everything from him, even his glasses.”
A subsequent June 2025 New York Times report focused on efforts to locate Hubbard after months during which his family said they did not know where he was being held within Russia’s prison system following his conviction. The Times reported that documents reviewed by the newspaper showed Hubbard was being held at the IK-12 penal colony in Mordovia, a Russian region commonly associated with its extensive prison system.
The newspaper also said Hubbard had regained limited contact with relatives after months during which his family said they had no information about his whereabouts following his conviction, including being able to call one of his sons.
Separately, the newspaper reviewed text and Skype messages Hubbard exchanged with his son in 2022 during the opening weeks of the war as conditions in eastern Ukraine deteriorated around him. In those messages, Hubbard described hearing explosions during online English lessons, struggling with failing utilities and food shortages, sheltering at a church, and attempting to continue teaching students remotely while waiting for the war to end.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.