.A former U.S. paratrooper as well as stone performer confined in Russia more than a year back on medication fees was actually penalized to 13 years in prison on Thursday, the Moscow court body's press company pointed out.Michael Travis Leake, who faced the Moscow-based rock band Lovi Noch, was actually confined in June 2023 after prosecutors implicated him of "organizing a medication dealing company entailing young people.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courthouse located him guilty of crimes attached to the purchase of illegal drugs, the court's media service pointed out in a post on Telegram. He was actually punished to thirteen years in a maximum-security penitentiary swarm.Leake was actually jailed together with Veronika Grabanchuk, one more accused sentenced of medicine charges. Her relationship to Leake was not instantly crystal clear.Arrests of USA residents in Russia have boosted in recent times, in what Washington considers a Kremlin ploy to safeguard the launch of Russians founded guilty abroad.To name a few United States citizens kept in Russian prisons are actually former marines Robert Gilman as well as Paul Whelan, in addition to reporters Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva.