.A former USA paratrooper and also stone entertainer apprehended in Russia greater than a year earlier on medication charges was penalized to 13 years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court of law device's press solution claimed.Michael Travis Leake, who fronted the Moscow-based stone band Lovi Noch, was actually restrained in June 2023 after prosecutors charged him of "coordinating a medication dealing organization including youths.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courtroom discovered him bad of crimes attached to the purchase of unlawful anesthetics, the courthouse's press service stated in a post on Telegram. He was actually sentenced to 13 years in a maximum-security penitentiary nest.Leake was jailed along with Veronika Grabanchuk, an additional offender convicted of medicine charges. Her connection to Leake was actually not quickly very clear.Arrests of U.S. people in Russia have increased over the last few years, in what Washington considers a Kremlin ploy to secure the release of Russians sentenced abroad.To name a few United States people kept in Russian prisons are former marines Robert Gilman and also Paul Whelan, in addition to reporters Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva.