In a week, Russia released a second American citizen as a gesture of goodwill to Donald Trump prior to the Ukrainian peace talks between America and the Kremlin in Saudi Aarabia.
Kalob Wayne Byers, 28, a nurse and musician, was identified as the American who was held on 7 February at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow for drug smuggling.
The release – described by his parents as a 'miracle' – comes immediately before delicate American Russian conversations in Saudi Arabia when terminating the three -year conflict.
Together with his Russian fiancé Naida Mambetova, 24, byers was accused of possession of cannabis-rattling marmalade. It was not immediately clear whether she had been released.
The American had imprisoned for a maximum of ten years after they were held at the Russian airport, reports.
A court initially ordered that he was held in detention for 30 days after being accused of trying to smuggle a 'considerable amount' of drugs to the country after he entered Istanbul. But he had claimed that he needed the cannabis products for epilepsy.
Byers is the second American citizen who has been released by Russia in the midst of defrosting relationships prior to conversations that are being discussed by Trump, which insists that Vladimir Putin wants to end the war.
Last week, Russia Marc Fogel, 63, required a teacher from Pennsylvania who taught at Moscow's Anglo-American school. He was held in 2021, also on costs for drugs.
Kalob Wayne Byers, 28, depicted with his Russian fiancé Naida Mambetova, 24, who was held in Moscow with him
Byers were held together with Mambetova, accused of the possession of cannabis-rattling marmalade
Byers was released by it was not immediately clear whether she had been released.
Byers is the second American citizen who has been released by Russia in the midst of defrosting of relationships prior to conversations that are made by Trump
He was changed with the Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik, 45, a cryptocurrency expert, who was imprisoned in the US for money laundering.
The parents of Byers placed: 'He is now in the American detention and waiting for his flight home at the American embassy.
“He is now back on the medicine that helps to keep his epilepsy under control, but he was eight days without his medication.”
It comes when the American State Secretary Marco Rubio this morning in Saudi Arabia landed before Ukraine's peace talks with Russian officials.
The American State Secretary spoke by telephone with his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, and tomorrow Russian officials will meet alongside Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz and the White House Midden -Oost, Steve Witkoff. It was not immediately clear who they would meet from Russia.
But although the Ukrainian President Volodyymyr Zenskiy is also in the region, a senior Ukrainian government source told the BBC that Kyiv was not invited to participate in the conversations.
The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that the conversations would take place on Tuesday in the Saudi capital Riyad, stating public sources. But Ukrainian officials and other European leaders claim that they have not been informed that the bilateral meetings took place.
The conversations will be one of the first personal discussions at high level in years between Russian and American officials and are intended to enter into a meeting between the American and Russian presidents.
It comes after President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by telephone last week and ordered top officials to start negotiations on the war, which he repeatedly promised to end during his presidential campaign.
Other American citizens, including Ballerina Ksenia Karelina, 34, remain in prison in Russia in the midst of rumors about a coming big exchange.
She serves for 12 years under the draconian laws of Vladimir Putin for paying $ 51.80 to an organization in the US that offers Charitable Aid to KYIV. The US says that it was wrongly held.
The Spa employee of Los Angeles was arrested in February 2024 during a visit to the family in Yekaterinburg. After discovering the charity donation on her phone, the FSB security service accused her of collecting funds for the Ukrainian army.
Stephen James Hubbard, who turns 73 on Thursday, was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison after being convicted in a closed court in Moscow to serve as a mercenary for Ukraine. Russian state media said he argued guilty.
A teacher of English who had previously lived in Japan and Cyprus, Hubbard lived in the Ukrainian city of Izium and was arrested after Russian troops had taken over the city in 2022.
The American State Secretary Marco Rubio, Left, meets Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Riyad, Saudi -Aarabia, Monday 17 February 2025
Last night, Trump organized only a few hours after the teacher was released from the Russian detention in the White House in the White House in the White House
Several American citizens, including Ballerina Ksenia Karelina, 34, remain in prison in Russia in the midst of rumors about an upcoming large exchanger
Stephen James Hubbard (photo) lived in the Ukrainian town of Izium and was arrested after Russian troops had taken control of the city in 2022
A court in June found Gordon Black (photo) guilty of stealing 10,000 rubles ($ 104) of the woman and threaten to kill her
His relatives rejected claims that Hubbard served for Ukraine, pointing at his advanced age. He was designated as incorrectly in January.
Gordon Black, an active service in the American staff in South Korea, was held last May in the Far East of Russia on suspicion of stealing money from his Russian girlfriend.
A court in June was guilty of stealing $ 104 of the woman and threatened to kill her, to order him to three years and nine months in prison. Later he lost a hearing.
Musician and former American parachutists, Michael Lake was sentenced to 13 years in prison for drug smuggling last July.
It was not clear how Lake argued for the charges, submitted after his arrest in June 2023.
Robert Gilman received a sentence of seven years and a month last October. An ex-Marine, he was found guilty by a Russian court of attacking a prison officer and a state researcher in a criminal colony in Voronezh, south of the Russian capital.
Gilman was already in prison at the time of the violation and served a 3-1/2-year prison for attacking a police officer while he was drunk, an indictment for which he was convicted in October 2022.
Daniel Joseph Schneider was sentenced in September to six years in prison by a court in the Kaliningrad region for kidnapping his own son, after trying to leave Russia with the four -year -old without the permission of the boy's mother.
Schneider was held in the neighborhood of Poland by the Russian border service while trying to cross the border in a Bosmoer ash, the court said.
Joseph Tater was sentenced last August to 15 days in prison for 'small hooliganism' after reporting the staff in a hotel in Moscow that he denied.
Robert Gilman (photo) was found guilty by a Russian court of attacking a prison officer and a state investigator in a criminal colony in Voronezh
In September, a court refused the appeal of Joseph Tater (photo) to be released from detention before the trial
Eugene Spector (photo), who was born in Russia and then moved to the US, was accused of spy last August
David Barnes (photo) had been involved in a custody conflict with his Russian ex-wife
Russian press agencies say that he is also being investigated for a more serious accusation of the attacks of a police officer, who transports up to five years in prison.
A court refused to be released in September from detention before the trial.
The American citizen Robert Woodland, who was adopted as a child from Russia, was sent back to Russia and worked as a English teacher when he was arrested on accusing an attempt to sell drugs.
He was sentenced to 12-1/2 years in prison on July 4 last year. His lawyer said that Woodland had partially admitted debt.
Eugene Spector, who is currently serving a 3-1/2 year prison for bribery, was born in Russia and then moved to the US, was accused of espionage last August.
Before his arrest in 2021, he served as chairman of the Board of Medpolymerprom Group, a company that specializes in medicines for cancer, the media said. Spector had found guilty of helping an assistant to buy at an ex-Russian Deputy Prime Minister. It was not clear how he argued for the espionage costs.
And David Barnes was sentenced by a Russian court in February 2024 to the accusation of the abuse of his two sons in the United States.
He had been involved in a custody conflict with his Russian ex-wife.
The allegations were previously investigated in Texas, where the authorities found no grounds to charge him.
