.A past U.S. paratrooper as well as rock musician apprehended in Russia more than a year ago on drug costs was actually penalized to 13 years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court unit's press company said.Michael Travis Leake, that faced the Moscow-based rock band Lovi Noch, was actually detained in June 2023 after district attorneys accused him of "organizing a medicine working business including young people.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courtroom discovered him bad of criminal offenses connected to the sale of unlawful narcotics, the court's press company mentioned in a post on Telegram. He was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security penitentiary nest.Leake was imprisoned together with Veronika Grabanchuk, an additional offender convicted of medicine charges. Her association to Leake was actually not quickly crystal clear.Arrests of USA consumers in Russia have actually improved over the last few years, in what Washington considers a Kremlin scheme to protect the launch of Russians convicted abroad.And many more United States consumers held in Russian jails are actually previous marines Robert Gilman and also Paul Whelan, along with writers Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva.