A U.S. citizen detained earlier this month in Russia on drug smuggling charges has been released.
Kalob Wayne Byers, 28, was apprehended on February 7th at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport after customs officials allegedly discovered cannabis-infused marmalade in his luggage. Byers was traveling from Istanbul with his Russian fiancée, who was also arrested.
The release status of Byers’ fiancée, identified by Russian media as Naida Mambetova, remains unclear. She faced the same drug smuggling charges and was held in pre-trial detention.
Russian authorities stated Byers attempted to smuggle a substantial quantity of narcotics into the country. The drug smuggling charges carried a potential sentence of up to ten years imprisonment.
Following his release, Byers is residing at the U.S. embassy in Moscow while awaiting his flight home, according to his parents’ social media posts reported by the Russian independent news outlet Meduza. A U.S. official confirmed his Sunday evening release to the embassy, per the Associated Press.
Byers’ release seems linked to efforts to de-escalate tensions between Moscow and Washington before upcoming talks.
When questioned about Byers, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated on Monday that Moscow anticipates “discussing the restoration of the full range of Russian-American relations” at the Saudi Arabia meeting, suggesting this event should be considered within that broader context.
A thaw in relations between the two countries has been evident in recent weeks.
Last week, President Trump altered three years of U.S. policy toward Ukraine and Russia, announcing that he and President Putin had agreed to commence negotiations on ending the war.
Arrests of Americans in Russia have become increasingly frequent in recent years, coinciding with the deterioration of relations between Moscow and Washington due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
Some Americans have been freed through prisoner exchanges, including Marc Fogel, a Pennsylvania teacher imprisoned in Russia on drug charges. He was released last week.
Fogel was detained at a Russian airport in August 2021 while traveling to teach at a Moscow school. He received a 14-year sentence for drug possession, which his family claimed involved medically prescribed marijuana.
His release earlier this month was part of a prisoner exchange that also saw the return of Alexander Vinnik, a Russian cryptocurrency expert facing Bitcoin fraud charges in the U.S., to Russia.