.A former U.S. paratrooper and also stone artist detained in Russia much more than a year ago on drug costs was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Thursday, the Moscow court of law unit's press company said.Michael Travis Leake, that overlooked the Moscow-based rock band Lovi Noch, was actually restrained in June 2023 after prosecutors indicted him of "coordinating a drug handling organization including youths.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Court found him guilty of criminal activities attached to the purchase of illegal drugs, the court's media solution mentioned in a blog post on Telegram. He was sentenced to thirteen years in a maximum-security penitentiary nest.Leake was actually jailed alongside Veronika Grabanchuk, yet another offender sentenced of drug costs. Her relation to Leake was not immediately very clear.Arrests of U.S. citizens in Russia have actually boosted in recent times, in what Washington considers a Kremlin maneuver to get the release of Russians founded guilty abroad.And many more American people held in Russian prisons are actually previous marines Robert Gilman as well as Paul Whelan, in addition to journalists Evan Gershkovich and also Alsu Kurmasheva.