.A former united state paratrooper as well as rock performer confined in Russia much more than a year ago on drug fees was punished to 13 years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court of law unit's press solution pointed out.Michael Travis Leake, that faced the Moscow-based stone band Lovi Noch, was detained in June 2023 after prosecutors accused him of "arranging a drug dealing service involving youths.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courthouse located him responsible of criminal activities attached to the purchase of prohibited narcotics, the courtroom's press solution said in a post on Telegram. He was punished to 13 years in a maximum-security penitentiary swarm.Leake was actually incarcerated alongside Veronika Grabanchuk, one more offender convicted of drug charges. Her relationship to Leake was not right away very clear.Arrests of united state residents in Russia have actually enhanced in recent years, in what Washington considers a Kremlin scheme to get the release of Russians pronounced guilty abroad.To name a few American people held in Russian prisons are actually past marines Robert Gilman as well as Paul Whelan, as well as journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva.