.A past U.S. paratrooper and also rock musician confined in Russia greater than a year back on drug charges was actually penalized to thirteen years in prison on Thursday, the Moscow court of law system's press service pointed out.Michael Travis Leake, that fronted the Moscow-based stone band Lovi Noch, was apprehended in June 2023 after district attorneys charged him of "organizing a drug dealing business entailing youngsters.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courtroom located him bad of criminal offenses connected to the sale of prohibited drugs, the courtroom's press solution pointed out in a post on Telegram. He was sentenced to thirteen years in a maximum-security penitentiary colony.Leake was incarcerated together with Veronika Grabanchuk, an additional defendant sentenced of medicine charges. Her relation to Leake was not quickly crystal clear.Arrests of USA citizens in Russia have actually increased in the last few years, in what Washington considers a Kremlin tactic to get the release of Russians sentenced abroad.And many more United States consumers composed Russian jails are actually previous marines Robert Gilman and Paul Whelan, and also writers Evan Gershkovich and also Alsu Kurmasheva.