.A former USA paratrooper as well as stone performer restrained in Russia more than a year ago on drug fees was penalized to thirteen years in prison on Thursday, the Moscow court system's media service claimed.Michael Travis Leake, that fronted the Moscow-based stone band Lovi Noch, was actually confined in June 2023 after prosecutors implicated him of "arranging a drug dealing service entailing youths.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courthouse discovered him responsible of crimes connected to the purchase of illegal drugs, the courthouse's press service mentioned in a post on Telegram. He was actually penalized to 13 years in a maximum-security prison colony.Leake was actually imprisoned together with Veronika Grabanchuk, yet another defendant convicted of drug charges. Her relation to Leake was certainly not promptly crystal clear.Arrests of U.S. residents in Russia have improved recently, in what Washington views as a Kremlin scheme to safeguard the launch of Russians pronounced guilty abroad.To name a few United States people kept in Russian prisons are former marines Robert Gilman as well as Paul Whelan, as well as writers Evan Gershkovich as well as Alsu Kurmasheva.