.A former united state paratrooper and rock performer detained in Russia more than a year ago on drug charges was actually penalized to 13 years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court body's media company claimed.Michael Travis Leake, that faced the Moscow-based rock band Lovi Noch, was restrained in June 2023 after prosecutors charged him of "managing a medicine dealing business entailing youngsters.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courthouse discovered him responsible of criminal activities hooked up to the purchase of illegal narcotics, the courtroom's media service said in a message on Telegram. He was actually sentenced to thirteen years in a maximum-security prison swarm.Leake was actually jailed alongside Veronika Grabanchuk, one more defendant sentenced of medicine charges. Her relationship to Leake was actually certainly not immediately crystal clear.Arrests of united state citizens in Russia have actually raised in the last few years, in what Washington considers a Kremlin tactic to protect the launch of Russians founded guilty abroad.Among other American residents composed Russian jails are actually past marines Robert Gilman and Paul Whelan, and also reporters Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva.