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He was sentenced to six years and 10 months in a
general-security prison. Prosecutors had called for a sentence
of seven years in a maximum-security prison.
Hubbard, from the state of Michigan, is the first American known
to have been convicted on charges of fighting as a mercenary in
the Ukrainian conflict.
The charges carried a potential sentence of 15 years, but
prosecutors asked that his age be taken into account along with
his admission of guilt, Russian news reports said.
Arrests of Americans have become increasingly common in Russia
in recent years. Concern has risen that Russia could be
targeting U.S. nationals for arrest to use later as bargaining
chips in talks to bring back Russians convicted of crimes in the
U.S. and Europe.
Also on Monday, a court in the city of Voronezh sentenced
American Robert Gilman to seven years and 1 month for allegedly
assaulting law enforcement officers while serving a sentence for
another assault.
According to Russian news reports, Gilman was arrested in 2022
for causing a disturbance while intoxicated on a passenger train
and then assaulted a police officer while in custody. He is
serving a 3 1/2-year sentence on that charge.
Last year, he assaulted a prison inspector during a cell check,
then hit an official of the Investigative Committe, resulting in
the new sentence, state news agency RIA-Novosti said.
The U.S. and Russia in August completed their largest prisoner
swap in post-Soviet history, a deal involving 24 people, many
months of negotiations and concessions from other European
countries, which released Russians in their custody as part of
the exchange. Several U.S. citizens remain behind bars in Russia
following the swap.
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