2026年10月21日 美国东部时间晚上8:51 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
华盛顿 — 去年斯蒂芬·哈伯德在俄罗斯监狱期间，父子俩进行了一次简短的电话交谈，当时希腊东正教神父约瑟夫·科尔曼曾担心自己再也见不到父亲。
“他表达了对当时所处生活的极度厌倦。我不想说他有自杀念头，但那次谈话的倾向明显指向这个方向，”作为希腊东正教神父的科尔曼在周三接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻采访时表示，这是他父亲获释后他首次接受电视专访。
哈伯德的获释消息于周三早些时候在美国特使史蒂夫·威特科夫与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京会晤期间公布。美国公民哈伯德因被指控为乌克兰作战而在俄罗斯被关押了四年多，美国政府认定他是被错误拘留的。
特朗普总统表示，普京应他的要求同意释放哈伯德，“无需‘交换’”，不过他也提到，他决定豁免对俄罗斯的新制裁，是哈伯德获释的原因之一。
哈伯德从圣彼得堡起飞前，科尔曼与他进行了一分钟的电话交谈。科尔曼称，父亲的状态比2025年5月上次通话时要好。当时威特科夫也在场，两人几乎没有机会私下交流。
“我想像儿子拥抱父亲那样拥抱他。我想亲自评估他的健康状况，确保他安然无恙，”科尔曼说。他还表示会给父亲留出时间适应自由生活，并预计当晚晚些时候与哈伯德见面。
科尔曼现居塞浦路斯，他与哈伯德并未在同一个家庭长大，哈伯德与科尔曼的母亲已经离婚。他表示，父亲被拘留后，家人完全失去了他的音讯大约三年时间。
哈伯德在美国的律师马丁·德卢卡告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，2025年2月他的团队接手此案时，无论是家属还是美国大使馆都不清楚哈伯德的确切关押地点。
俄罗斯的律师最终找到了他，并安排了法律探视、购买食品和生活必需品的资金，以及与儿子的那次简短通话。
德卢卡说，与世隔绝给哈伯德造成了巨大伤害。
“他与所有认识的人、与外部世界完全隔绝了，”他说。
普京批准释放哈伯德后，威特科夫称赞普京是一位“人道主义者”，这一言论立刻遭到了共和党和民主党议员的强烈反对。国际刑事法院已对普京发出逮捕令，指控他涉及驱逐乌克兰儿童的战争罪行，俄罗斯军队也被指控在战争期间犯下大规模暴行。
当被问及威特科夫对普京的描述时，科尔曼将父亲的获释称为“这场更大规模冲突中迈向和平的一小步”，并感谢普京签署了这项协议。
他将这一决定形容为“富有同情心甚至仁慈”的举动。
现年74岁的哈伯德是一名退休教师，2022年俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰后不久在乌克兰被俘，被指控为雇佣军把守检查站。随后在一场闭门审判中，他被判处近七年监禁。
他的家人一直对指控提出异议。
德卢卡表示，他的团队进行了独立调查，采访了认识哈伯德的人，并调查了他在入侵前的处境。他说，他们没有发现任何证据表明哈伯德曾在乌克兰军队服役，或者在70岁左右的年纪具备服役的身体条件。
“我们没有看到任何证据能支持这些指控，”德卢卡说。他补充称，俄罗斯的案件卷宗大多处于密封状态，他的团队曾多次要求获取能证实指控的证据。
德卢卡和科尔曼都将哈伯德获释归功于特朗普政府与莫斯科的外交接触。
当被问及近期美国对俄有利的决定——包括解除制裁和采购俄罗斯柴油——是否与哈伯德的获释有关时，德卢卡表示他不认为存在直接关联，但他承认双边关系涉及多个相互重叠的利益。
不过特朗普总统明确表示，如果允许新制裁生效，哈伯德就不会获释。
尽管哈伯德已获释，但仍有多达20名美国人被关押在俄罗斯，其中一些人的家属对针对他们的指控提出异议。美国国务院仍在警告美国人不要前往俄罗斯，称存在被错误拘留的风险。
德卢卡表示，他不担心政府与莫斯科的接触会鼓励更多逮捕行动，他认为外交对话帮助多名美国人重获自由。
但尽管俄罗斯有以可疑罪名关押美国人的历史，特朗普政府的新政策并未将俄罗斯列为错误拘留支持国，伊朗和阿富汗已获得这一标签。
科尔曼没有直接指责父亲遭遇此番处境，但他承认，父亲可能在俄罗斯军队推进时留在乌克兰是一个错误。
“俄罗斯军队曾告诉外国公民离开，而他没有，”科尔曼说。“我不喜欢发生在父亲身上的事。他能重获自由，我欣喜若狂。但他当时生活在一个战区。”
“我不是说他被拘留是合理的，我没有这么说，”他补充道。“但战争中总会发生这种事。”
阿登·法希对本文亦有贡献。
Son says Stephen Hubbard was experiencing “extreme tiredness with life” before release from Russian jail
2026-10-21 8:51 PM EDT / CBS News
Washington — Fr. Joseph Coleman feared he would never again see his father, Stephen Hubbard, when they had a brief phone conversation last year while Hubbard was in a Russian prison.
“He was expressing a very extreme tiredness with life, the life that he was experiencing at that time. I don’t want to say suicidal thoughts, but the conversation hinted it leaned in that direction,” Coleman, a Greek Orthodox priest, told CBS News on Wednesday in his first television interview since his father’s release.
Hubbard’s release was announced earlier Wednesday during a meeting between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hubbard, a U.S. citizen, was imprisoned in Russia for more than four years after being accused of fighting for Ukraine. The U.S. government had deemed Hubbard wrongfully detained.
President Trump said Putin had agreed to release Hubbard at his request, with “no ‘swap’ necessary,” though he also said that his decision to waive new sanctions against Russia played a role in Hubbard’s release.
In a one-minute phone call with his father before Hubbard took off from St. Petersburg, Coleman said he sounded better than he had during their last conversation in May 2025. Witkoff was also present, leaving little opportunity for a private exchange.
“I want to embrace him as a son embraces his father. I want to personally assess his health to make sure he’s well,” Coleman said. He said he would also give his dad space to adjust to freedom and expected to see Hubbard later that evening.
Coleman, who lives in Cyprus, did not grow up in the same home as Hubbard, who was divorced from Coleman’s mother. He said the family had lost track of Hubbard entirely for roughly three years after his detention.
Martin De Luca, Hubbard’s U.S.-based attorney, told CBS News that when his legal team took on the case in February 2025, neither the family nor the U.S. Embassy knew precisely where Hubbard was being held.
Lawyers in Russia eventually located him and arranged for legal visits, money for food and basic necessities, and the brief phone call with his son.
De Luca said the isolation had taken an enormous toll.
“It’s just being isolated from everybody you’ve ever known and just from the outside world,” he said.
After Putin granted Hubbard’s release, Witkoff praised the Russian president as a “humanitarian,” prompting swift backlash from Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes involving the deportation of Ukrainian children, and Russian forces have been accused of widespread abuses during the war.
Asked about Witkoff’s description of Putin, Coleman called his father’s release “a small step toward peace in this greater conflict” and thanked Putin for signing off on the deal.
He described the decision as an act of “compassion and even mercy.”
Hubbard, a 74-year-old retired schoolteacher, was captured in Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 and accused of manning a checkpoint for mercenaries. He was later sentenced to almost seven years in a penal colony following a closed-door trial.
His family has consistently disputed the charges.
Photo shared by President Trump and special envoy Steve Witkoff shows Stephen Hubbard on a plane with U.S. officials after being released from Russian detention, Oct. 21, 2026. @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
De Luca said his legal team conducted its own investigation, interviewing people who knew Hubbard and examining his circumstances before the invasion. He said they found no evidence that Hubbard had served in the Ukrainian military or was physically capable of doing so at roughly 70 years old.
“We have not seen any evidence to support those allegations,” De Luca said. He added that the Russian case file was largely sealed and that his team had repeatedly sought evidence substantiating the charges.
De Luca and Coleman both credited the Trump administration’s diplomatic engagement with Moscow for securing Hubbard’s freedom.
Asked whether recent U.S. decisions benefiting Russia — including sanctions relief and purchases of Russian diesel — were connected to Hubbard’s release, De Luca said he did not believe there was a direct link, though he acknowledged that bilateral relationships involve multiple overlapping interests.
Mr. Trump, however, has explicitly said that allowing new sanctions to take effect would have prevented Hubbard’s release.
And despite Hubbard’s release, as many as 20 Americans remain imprisoned in Russia, including some whose families dispute the charges against them. The State Department continues to warn Americans against traveling to Russia because of the risk of wrongful detention.
De Luca said he was not concerned that the administration’s engagement with Moscow would encourage further detentions, arguing that diplomatic dialogue had helped secure several Americans’ freedom.
But Russia has not been designated a state sponsor of wrongful detention under a new Trump administration policy, despite its history of imprisoning Americans on questionable charges. Iran and Afghanistan have both received the designation.
Coleman stopped short of blaming his father for his circumstances but acknowledged he might have made a mistake by remaining in Ukraine as Russian forces advanced.
“The Russian forces told foreign nationals to leave and he did not,” Coleman said. “I do not like what happened to my father. I am ecstatic that he is free. But he was living in an area that was a war zone.”
“I’m not saying his detainment was justifiable. I’m not saying that,” he said. “But these things happen in war.”
Arden Farhi contributed to this report.
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