.A past U.S. paratrooper as well as rock entertainer apprehended in Russia greater than a year ago on drug costs was punished to thirteen years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court of law system's media service mentioned.Michael Travis Leake, that faced the Moscow-based rock band Lovi Noch, was actually confined in June 2023 after prosecutors charged him of "organizing a drug handling organization including youngsters.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courtroom located him bad of criminal activities connected to the sale of unlawful drugs, the court's press company pointed out in a message on Telegram. He was actually punished to 13 years in a maximum-security penitentiary nest.Leake was incarcerated alongside Veronika Grabanchuk, yet another defendant founded guilty of medicine charges. Her relationship to Leake was actually not immediately very clear.Arrests of U.S. consumers in Russia have actually improved in the last few years, in what Washington views as a Kremlin maneuver to safeguard the release of Russians convicted abroad.To name a few American citizens kept in Russian prisons are former marines Robert Gilman and also Paul Whelan, along with writers Evan Gershkovich as well as Alsu Kurmasheva.