Russia frees American prisoner ahead of talks with US

The Russian government on Monday released a U.S. citizen that had been detained on charges of possession of a small amount of marijuana, ahead of talks between Russian and U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia, the New York Times reported.

Kalob Byers Wayne, 28, had been detained at Moscow's Vnukovo airport during a baggage check on February 7, after customs officials found cannabis-laced marmalade in his luggage.

The Kremlin’s spokesman said the Saudi-based talks on Tuesday would aim to restore relations between Moscow and Washington, and “so certain events can be viewed in this context", the Times reported.

Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser, said on Monday upon arrival in the Saudi capital of Riyadh that talks on Ukraine will be strictly bilateral, Russia's RIA state news agency reported.

"We came to negotiate with American colleagues," RIA cited Ushakov as saying. "These are bilateral talks, purely bilateral. There can be no trilateral talks in Riyadh."

This comes as Europe insists that will not accept to any peace plan without Ukraine.