Stephen Hubbard taught school in Michigan. In retirement he lived in eastern Ukraine, and when he and his partner split, he stayed. His pension went further there. Russian troops detained him in February 2022, in the first days of the invasion. On Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 74, he flew home.
A Russian court convicted him of working as a mercenary. He and the U.S. government denied it. The State Department named him wrongfully detained last year, and he's the only American with that status in Russia. The Journal's Alistair MacDonald and Thomas Grove report that President Trump asked President Putin for his release in a phone call last week. Trump said the U.S. didn't have to give anything in return. Envoy Steve Witkoff met him in St. Petersburg and escorted him home.
The prison sat about 300 miles east of Moscow. Former prisoners and Ukrainian prosecutors rank it among the toughest camps for war-related inmates. Guards isolated him and bullied him, three men held there told the Journal. He was poorly fed, and his health failed. He caught scabies. At the camp he could barely walk. Martin De Luca, a lawyer on his case, said his health is fragile and he'll go to a rehabilitation center in Texas.
The call home
His son, Joseph Coleman, is an Orthodox priest in Cyprus. He spoke with his father on the flight. A year ago his father had been slow to speak and weak. This time, Coleman said, “Today he seems OK.” The detail that stays with us came from Roman Malakhov, a Ukrainian who met Hubbard in the camp. Hubbard stayed in Ukraine, Malakhov said, because his pension went further there. Plenty of American retirees have said the same about Portugal, Mexico or Thailand. For years the math worked for him too. Then the war came.
Our read
This is Retirement, M10, and we'll keep the politics out of it. A pension or a Social Security check goes further in a lot of countries. That math is real, and people build good lives on it. What the check doesn't buy is the things a country provides. A stable government. A court you can trust. A hospital that takes your insurance. An embassy close enough to help. Medicare generally doesn't pay for care outside the country. In a cheap place, the bigger risk is what happens when the place changes.
If you or a parent lives abroad, or you're thinking about it, here's the check this week. Pull up the State Department's travel advisory for that country. Then enroll in its Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, STEP, so the embassy knows you're there. Look at your health coverage and ask what it pays overseas and how you'd get home in a crisis. Keep an exit fund in a U.S. account you can reach from anywhere. The sun can shine for years in a place. It's still worth knowing where the umbrella is. If retiring abroad is in your plan, let's price the whole plan, and the cost of living is only the first line.