Last week, Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old U.S. citizen held in Russian custody since 2022, was freed in what the Kremlin called a humanitarian goodwill gesture.

Hubbard’s release came shortly after a deal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to sell diesel to the United States. This has caused some to suggest the Kremlin has shifted tactics in its dealings with Washington to secure good graces from President Donald Trump. Some also have questioned whether the release of Hubbard was in exchange for the recent release of Mikhail Zvinchuk, a Russian war blogger detained in Montenegro earlier this month whom the U.S. has accused of election interference.

Hubbard, who was born in Michigan, was living in Ukraine and accused of being a mercenary by Russia. He denied the charge but was imprisoned, anyway. Whatever the reason for this, it is good Hubbard is free again, and highlights the ongoing Russian imprisonment of another American whose release should be a priority of the Trump administration. Every American matters.

David Barnes is the father of two boys whose ex-wife, Svetlana Boricovna, reportedly abducted them and fled with them to Russia, her home country. The couple had a bitter divorce in which she accused Barnes of sexually abusing their children when they lived in Houston. Texas authorities investigated the claims and determined that Barnes had committed no crime.

However, that did not stop Boricovna from perpetuating her claim, using it as justification for taking the boys, and fleeing to Russia nor from repeating the claim to Russian authorities, who arrested Barnes in January 2022 after he did what many fathers might do.

Barnes hired a detective agency to find his ex-wife and his boys, discovering them living in a Moscow apartment building, according to Texas Monthly. He then moved into a two-bedroom unit in the same complex and furnished the apartment in anticipation of reuniting with his sons, whom he had not seen for almost three years at that point. Sadly, it was not to be.

About a month after arriving in Russia, Barnes was arrested and charged with having sexually abused his sons back in Texas, an allegation already debunked by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and local law enforcement. However, the system is much different in Russia, and two years after being taken into custody, after a trial in which it was reported prosecutors relied almost entirely on testimony from Boricovna and forensic interviews with the boys (whom Barnes believes were coached by their mother), he was sentenced to 22½ years in prison, according to Texas Monthly.

Unfortunately for Barnes, he does not have the celebrity power of WNBA star Brittney Griner or Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, or even former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan — all Americans imprisoned in Russia who were eventually exchanged. On top of that, some believe few American politicians have made an issue of Barnes’ case because they may fear publicly supporting an accused child molester, no matter how weak the evidence against him is. I believe these are false accusations from an ex-spouse. This is something I’ve fought against for many years in my law practice and something I will continue to fight against.

That said, politicians, including Trump, should look at the allegations against Barnes and make his case a priority. If Putin wants the world to believe he’s a reasonable person, he will release Barnes at once, but it’s unlikely to happen unless there is pressure from Trump.

Considering the dire straits Russia finds itself in economically because of its war with Ukraine, releasing Barnes should be among the things it does to try to get back to being recognized as a righteous nation. For that to happen, Trump and others need to make Barnes a priority, immediately.

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Attorney Jeffery M. Leving is a specialist in fathers’ rights.

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