San Francisco Frontiers - The US citizens held in Russian prisons

Several US citizens remain in Russian prisons. Here are some of the most high-profile cases.

- Stephen Hubbard -

Stephen Hubbard, 72, is serving almost seven years in prison after a Russian court convicted him of fighting as a mercenary with Ukraine's army.

Originally from Michigan, Hubbard was a retired English teacher living in the Ukrainian town of Izyum, in northeastern Ukraine, when Russia launched its February 2022 offensive.

He was captured shortly after and held incommunicado for two and a half years before being put on trial in Moscow in October, accused of being paid to fight with a Ukrainian territorial defence battalion.

A Ukrainian soldier detained with Hubbard told AFP last year that the American was beaten with sticks and truncheons, forced to simulate sexual acts with other prisoners and starved while in captivity.

- Ksenia Karelina -

Dual US-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina, who lived in Los Angeles, is serving a 12-year prison sentence for having donated around $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity.

Karelina, a ballerina and spa worker born in 1991, was arrested in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg last January while on a trip to visit her family. She was charged with "treason".

The FSB accused her of collecting funds for Ukraine's army that was used to purchase "equipment, weapons and ammunition" -- charges she rejected. Her supporters say she donated to a US-based organisation that delivers humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

- Gordon Black -

American soldier Gordon Black was jailed in June for three years and nine months by a court in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, convicted of having threatened to kill his girlfriend and for stealing from her.

The then 34-year-old, who completed tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, was visiting a Russian woman he had met and dated while serving in South Korea.

US media have said the arrest could have been a "honey trap" operation targeting an American citizen.

- Robert Gilman -

Former US marine Robert Gilman from Massachusetts is serving seven years after being convicted of having attacked Russian police officers and prison guards.

Originally convicted in 2022 of attacking a police officer while drunk, he was handed the longer term last year after prison authorities said he punched staff and attacked a criminal investigator.

His backers say the charges are unsubstantiated and that he has been subjected to "forced drugging" and "torture" in prison.

- Michael Travis Leake -

A former US paratrooper, Michael Travis Leake, was detained in June 2023 and sentenced to 13 years in prison for selling illegal narcotics.

CNN reported that Leake, who fronted a Moscow-based rock band called Lovi Noch, had lived in Russia for many years.

- Joseph Tater -

Joseph Tater faces five years in prison after being convicted of assaulting a police officer after abusing staff at a hotel in Moscow.

In a court hearing last year he rejected his US citizenship and claimed he had been targeted by the CIA for years.

- Gene Spector -

Russian-born Gene Spector was sentenced to 15 years on espionage charges in December.

Spector, born in Leningrad -- now Saint Petersburg -- in 1972 was already serving a jail sentence on bribery charges when convicted of espionage.

N.Flores--SFF