.A former U.S. paratrooper and rock musician restrained in Russia greater than a year earlier on drug charges was punished to thirteen years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court of law system's press service said.Michael Travis Leake, who faced the Moscow-based stone band Lovi Noch, was detained in June 2023 after prosecutors indicted him of "organizing a drug handling business involving youngsters.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courthouse discovered him guilty of criminal activities linked to the purchase of prohibited narcotics, the court's media solution said in a blog post on Telegram. He was actually sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security jail colony.Leake was actually incarcerated along with Veronika Grabanchuk, an additional accused convicted of medicine costs. Her association to Leake was not immediately crystal clear.Arrests of USA people in Russia have boosted in recent years, in what Washington views as a Kremlin ploy to protect the release of Russians sentenced abroad.And many more United States residents held in Russian prisons are former marines Robert Gilman as well as Paul Whelan, and also reporters Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva.