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U.S. citizen Kalob Byers, who was detained in Russia on drug smuggling charges after cannabis-infused gummies were discovered in his luggage, has been released from custody. Journalist Sascha Roslyakov reported the news on his Twitter account on Feb. 16, citing Byers' mother, Tonya Schuler. The American was last reported to be in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow “awaiting a flight home.”
Roslyakov noted that “such a quick release of an American citizen from Russian custody has probably never happened before.”
Byers' parents took to Facebook on Saturday, asking for prayers for their son's safe return: “Please pray he can make his flights without any health problems.”
The American’s release appears to be an attempt by the Kremlin to reduce tensions between Moscow and Washington ahead of talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Byers' quick release was linked to the talks at a press briefing earlier today:
“Among other topics, we expect to discuss the restoration of the full spectrum of Russian-American relations on Tuesday. In this context, certain events can be viewed accordingly.”
The 28-year-old Byers was detained on Feb. 7 at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport after arriving from Istanbul with his Russian fiancée, Naida Mambetova. During a luggage inspection, airport security found three types of candy containing vitamin C, melatonin, and cannabidiol (CBD) — which Byers used to manage his epilepsy.
On Feb. 10, Moscow's Solntsevsky District Court charged Byers with drug smuggling and placed him under arrest. His fiancée Naida Mambetova had been arrested two days earlier under the same charges. If convicted, they faced between five and ten years in prison.
It remains unclear whether Byers' fiancée was also released.
According to Byers' father, Jimmy Schuler, his son suffered an epileptic seizure in detention on Feb. 14 but was not provided with the necessary medication. “Anyone who knows my son knows he's not a druggie [and] doesn't smuggle drugs across other countries,” Schuler wrote at the time.
Byers and Mambetova met in the U.S. while she was taking part in an exchange program. After their engagement, the couple traveled to Russia to finalize wedding paperwork.
Byers’ arrest followed a recent prisoner exchange between Washington and Moscow which saw American schoolteacher Marc Fogel — who was arrested in 2021 at the Russian border with 17 grams of medical marijuana in his luggage — swapped for convicted cryptocurrency fraudster Alexander Vinnik. Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in a small beachside village in northern Greece at the request of the United States. U.S. authorities accused Vinnik of laundering more than $4 billion in Bitcoin through the crypto exchange BTC-e. He was extradited to the U.S. in 2022 and pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to commit money laundering” in May 2024.
Another high-profile exchange involving a “drug smuggling” conviction saw WNBA player Brittney Griner traded for arms trafficker Viktor Bout in December 2022. Griner was arrested earlier that year after cannabis oil was found in her luggage and was sentenced to nine years in prison in early August.
Arrests similar to those of Byers, Fogel, and Griner are believed to contribute to Vladimir Putin's “exchange fund” for negotiating the return of Russian spies and criminals detained abroad. Read more on the “exchange fund” in The Insider's report.