US citizen detained on drug smuggling charges in Russia released ahead of talks between Moscow, Washington
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A U.S. citizen arrested in Russia earlier this month on drug smuggling charges has been released from Russian custody.

Kalob Wayne Byers, 28, was detained on Feb. 7 at the Vnukovo airport in Moscow after cannabis-laced marmalade was allegedly found in his luggage by customs officials. Byers was traveling from Istanbul with his Russian fiancée, who was also taken into custody.

It was not immediately clear whether Byers’ fiancée, identified by Russian media as Naida Mambetova, was also released. She was placed in pre-trial detention on the same charges.

Russian authorities said Byers had attempted to smuggle a “significant amount” of drugs into the country. He was taken into custody on drug smuggling charges, punishable by up to a decade in prison.

Alexander Vinnik and Marc Fogel

Russian prisoner Alexander Vinnik, left, was swapped for American teacher Marc Fogel, right. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images/Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Fogel was detained at a Russian airport in August 2021 when traveling to work at a school in Moscow. He was sentenced to 14 years behind bars for possession of drugs, which his family said was medically prescribed marijuana.

He was released and flown back to the U.S. earlier this month in an exchange that included returning Alexander Vinnik, a Russian cryptocurrency expert who faced Bitcoin fraud charges in the U.S., to Russia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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