American citizen Kalob Byers, aged 28, who was recently arrested in Russia, has been released after spending several days in detention. Byers was detained at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport 10 days ago after customs officials allegedly found cannabis-laced marmalade in his baggage. He had traveled from Istanbul with his Russian fiancée, who was also detained on the same charges of drug smuggling.
Authorities accused Byers of attempting to smuggle a 'significant amount' of drugs into the country, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison in Russia. However, Byers has now been released from custody and is currently at the US Embassy in Moscow, awaiting a flight back home to the United States.
His release came just hours before talks between senior US and Russian officials regarding the conflict in Ukraine were scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned that discussions on restoring Russian-American relations would be a key focus of the upcoming talks.
It remains unclear whether Byers' fiancée, identified as Naida Mambetova in Russian media reports, has also been released. She was placed in pretrial detention on the same drug smuggling charges.
This development follows the recent release of another American, Marc Fogel, who had been detained in Russia for over three years on drug-related charges. Fogel, a teacher, was found guilty of 'large-scale drug smuggling' and sentenced to 14 years in a Russian hard labor camp in June 2022. His case had drawn attention to the complexities of US-Russia relations.
Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy and a key negotiator on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, had highlighted Fogel's release as a positive sign for future diplomatic relations between the two countries. He emphasized the importance of the working relationship between President Trump and President Putin in shaping global conflicts and alliances.
