.A former united state paratrooper and also rock artist apprehended in Russia greater than a year earlier on medicine fees was actually punished to 13 years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court of law unit's media service pointed out.Michael Travis Leake, who fronted the Moscow-based rock band Lovi Noch, was actually confined in June 2023 after prosecutors charged him of "arranging a drug dealing organization involving youngsters.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courthouse located him guilty of criminal offenses connected to the purchase of prohibited narcotics, the courtroom's media solution pointed out in a blog post on Telegram. He was penalized to thirteen years in a maximum-security prison nest.Leake was incarcerated along with Veronika Grabanchuk, another offender pronounced guilty of medication costs. Her association to Leake was certainly not instantly clear.Arrests of USA consumers in Russia have actually boosted recently, in what Washington views as a Kremlin ploy to protect the launch of Russians convicted abroad.To name a few United States citizens kept in Russian prisons are actually previous marines Robert Gilman as well as Paul Whelan, as well as writers Evan Gershkovich as well as Alsu Kurmasheva.