.A past united state paratrooper as well as stone performer detained in Russia greater than a year earlier on medication costs was punished to 13 years in prison on Thursday, the Moscow court unit's media service stated.Michael Travis Leake, that fronted the Moscow-based stone band Lovi Noch, was apprehended in June 2023 after prosecutors implicated him of "managing a medication dealing business including young people.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Court located him bad of crimes connected to the sale of prohibited narcotics, the courthouse's press company pointed out in a blog post on Telegram. He was sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security prison nest.Leake was actually incarcerated together with Veronika Grabanchuk, another offender convicted of drug costs. Her connection to Leake was not right away very clear.Arrests of U.S. citizens in Russia have actually increased in recent years, in what Washington sees as a Kremlin ploy to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.And many more United States residents kept in Russian prisons are past marines Robert Gilman and also Paul Whelan, along with journalists Evan Gershkovich as well as Alsu Kurmasheva.