.A previous USA paratrooper and also stone entertainer restrained in Russia greater than a year ago on medicine charges was penalized to 13 years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court body's press service mentioned.Michael Travis Leake, who faced the Moscow-based rock band Lovi Noch, was apprehended in June 2023 after district attorneys indicted him of "coordinating a medicine dealing organization including youths.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Court discovered him guilty of criminal activities connected to the purchase of unlawful drugs, the court's press company claimed in a post on Telegram. He was punished to thirteen years in a maximum-security jail colony.Leake was actually incarcerated together with Veronika Grabanchuk, an additional defendant sentenced of drug charges. Her association to Leake was actually certainly not instantly crystal clear.Arrests of united state residents in Russia have actually enhanced in the last few years, in what Washington sees as a Kremlin ploy to secure the launch of Russians pronounced guilty abroad.And many more United States residents kept in Russian prisons are past marines Robert Gilman and also Paul Whelan, along with journalists Evan Gershkovich and also Alsu Kurmasheva.