RUSSIA RELEASES AMERICAN

ROSSOSH, Russia - Thin and pale, American Fulbright scholar John Tobin gave
a brief smile as he strode out through the gates of a shabby prison in
southern Russia on Friday after serving half of his one-year drug sentence.

The 24-year-old Tobin, who said he was jailed after refusing to spy for
Russia, was flanked by prison officials who elbowed their way past
journalists outside the white brick walls of the Soviet era prison in the
town of Rossosh.

Without stopping to talk, he got into a car with two U.S. Embassy
representatives and drove to catch an overnight train to Moscow from the
regional center of Voronezh, where he loaded two cartloads of books and
personal belongings into his train car.

Asked at the station if he was bitter over his ordeal, Tobin said, "No,"
but otherwise declined to speak to reporters.

A court approved his parole Friday at a prison hearing, following a
unanimous parole board recommendation on Thursday that he be let go.

Tobin was arrested in January in Voronezh, where he was doing political
science research. He was convicted in April of obtaining, possessing and
distributing marijuana and sentenced to 37 months in prison.

A higher court, however, overturned the distribution conviction and reduced
the sentence to one year.

The Connecticut native was arrested as he left a Voronezh nightclub, and
police said they found him to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana.

The case took on political overtones when the Russian Federal Security
Service charged that Tobin was a spy in training, citing his Russian
studies at the elite Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif.

No espionage charges were filed, however, and Tobin said he was framed on
the drug charges because he refused to work for Russian intelligence.

Tobin was expected to return to the United States by next Tuesday or Wednesday.

"I'm absolutely elated," said Alyce Van Etten, Tobin's mother, who lives in
Monticello, N.Y. "I look forward to hearing his voice as soon as possible."