.A past united state paratrooper and also rock entertainer confined in Russia greater than a year back on drug charges was penalized to 13 years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court of law device's press solution pointed out.Michael Travis Leake, that faced the Moscow-based rock band Lovi Noch, was restrained in June 2023 after district attorneys charged him of "arranging a medication handling service including young people.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courtroom located him bad of criminal offenses hooked up to the sale of prohibited narcotics, the court's press company stated in an article on Telegram. He was sentenced to thirteen years in a maximum-security jail colony.Leake was imprisoned alongside Veronika Grabanchuk, an additional offender pronounced guilty of drug charges. Her relation to Leake was actually not quickly very clear.Arrests of U.S. citizens in Russia have increased in recent years, in what Washington views as a Kremlin maneuver to safeguard the launch of Russians founded guilty abroad.Among other American citizens held in Russian prisons are actually former marines Robert Gilman and Paul Whelan, in addition to writers Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva.