South Africa – Times LIVE, May 20, 2025
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a possible prisoner exchange involving nine people from each side during a phone call on Monday, according to Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
A source close to the Kremlin said the US has previously provided Moscow with a list of nine Americans jailed in Russia who Washington wants returned.
These are the nine people the source said were on the list:
STEPHEN JAMES HUBBARD
Hubbard, 73, was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison in October last year after being convicted in a closed court in Moscow of serving as a mercenary for Ukraine. Russian state media said he pleaded guilty.
An English teacher who had previously lived in Japan and Cyprus, Hubbard had been living in the Ukrainian town of Izium and was arrested after Russian forces took control of the town in 2022. His relatives rejected claims that Hubbard served for Ukraine, pointing to his advanced age.
He was designated by the US in January as “wrongfully detained”, meaning Washington is committed to try to negotiate his release.
ROBERT GILMAN
Gilman received a sentence of seven years and one month last October and in April a Russian court added an extra year to his sentence. An ex-marine, he was found guilty by a Russian court of assaulting a prison officer and a state investigator at a penal colony in Voronezh, south of the Russian capital.
