.A past USA paratrooper and stone artist restrained in Russia greater than a year back on drug charges was actually punished to 13 years in prison on Thursday, the Moscow court of law device's press company mentioned.Michael Travis Leake, who fronted the Moscow-based rock band Lovi Noch, was actually confined in June 2023 after prosecutors indicted him of "coordinating a drug dealing business entailing youngsters.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courthouse found him bad of crimes linked to the sale of prohibited narcotics, the courthouse's media solution said in an article on Telegram. He was punished to thirteen years in a maximum-security prison colony.Leake was put behind bars alongside Veronika Grabanchuk, one more offender founded guilty of medicine charges. Her relation to Leake was certainly not immediately clear.Arrests of united state citizens in Russia have actually enhanced in recent times, in what Washington sees as a Kremlin scheme to secure the launch of Russians pronounced guilty abroad.Among other American residents kept in Russian jails are actually past marines Robert Gilman and Paul Whelan, in addition to writers Evan Gershkovich as well as Alsu Kurmasheva.