President Joe Biden has made a big deal about the handful of U.S. citizens he's freed from wrongful detention in Russia by way of prisoner swaps that have involved the release of legitimate Russian criminals.

Biden and his administration are now scrambling after yet another American citizen has been sentenced to serve time in a Russian prison on dubious charges, according to Breitbart.

The latest incident involves an American named Stephen James Hubbard, 72, who was just sentenced to serve nearly seven years behind bars in Russia after he reportedly pleaded guilty to allegations that he was a mercenary fighting on behalf of Ukraine.

Ostensibly pleaded guilty to being a mercenary

Reuters reported that Hubbard received a sentence of six years and 10 months in a Russian prison in a Moscow courtroom on Monday after prosecutors claimed he'd pleaded guilty to serving as a mercenary for Ukraine.

The Russians claim that Hubbard was paid roughly $1,000 a month by a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in the eastern city of Izyum, where he'd been living since 2014. Prosecutors further alleged that Hubbard, in addition to the monthly payments, had also received military training, weapons, and ammunition when he signed up to fight on behalf of Ukraine.

He was reportedly detained by Russian forces in Izyum in April 2022, less than two months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, but the details of his arrest have not been made clear.

Hubbard's family disputes mercenary charge

While the Russians insist that Hubbard pleaded guilty to fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine, CNN reported that his family says otherwise, particularly his sister, Trisha Hubbard Fox, who said her brother held pro-Russia views and was too old to be joining the fighting.

Fox asserted in one recent interview that Hubbard was a "pacifist" who had never owned a firearm. She told Reuters that her brother had become estranged from his family while living in various foreign nations and that he'd settled in Izyum with a Ukrainian woman where he lived off a $300 per month pension and had few connections to the local community as he spoke neither Ukrainian nor Russian.

In a social media post last month, the sister said, "RUSSIA’s prosecutor is LYING!!! Steve was never a mercenary. He was an English teacher teaching English in foreign countries!"

Biden-Harris admin complains about lack of consular access for Hubbard

In a State Department press briefing on Monday, the subject of Hubbard's prison sentence came up, albeit without any direct mention of his name, when a reporter asked spokesman Matthew Miller if the U.S. government thought the charges against Hubbard were "legitimate."

"So I have limited -- we have limited information available about this case because Russia has refused to grant consular access," Miller said. "I’ll say a couple things about the case, though. The individual is 72 years old, has been held in prison for two years. He was arrested in Ukraine, not in Russia."

"Russia should grant consular access to him for the United States, as they should any time they detain an American citizen. And we are looking at the case very closely in considering our next steps," he continued.

Pressed on whether Russia had given any reason for denying consular access, Miller replied, "They are just refusing -- they are -- they’re just refusing to do it. We’re disappointed, as we often are when they refuse to grant consular access. They have an obligation to provide it. And we’re going to continue to press for it."

Asked again if there'd been any explanation given, such as that Hubbard wasn't a U.S. citizen, Miller stuttered in reply, "I -- so there -- his -- so I don’t -- if there’s any further information, I don’t have it here. There’s certainly no dispute of his American citizenship."