.A previous USA paratrooper and also stone artist confined in Russia greater than a year ago on medicine charges was punished to thirteen years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court device's media company pointed out.Michael Travis Leake, who fronted the Moscow-based stone band Lovi Noch, was actually detained in June 2023 after prosecutors implicated him of "organizing a drug handling business involving young people.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Court found him bad of unlawful acts linked to the sale of illegal narcotics, the courthouse's media service stated in a blog post on Telegram. He was punished to thirteen years in a maximum-security jail colony.Leake was actually imprisoned along with Veronika Grabanchuk, yet another defendant founded guilty of medicine fees. Her connection to Leake was actually certainly not quickly very clear.Arrests of united state consumers in Russia have actually increased in recent years, in what Washington views as a Kremlin maneuver to protect the release of Russians founded guilty abroad.Among other American residents kept in Russian jails are actually previous marines Robert Gilman as well as Paul Whelan, and also journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva.