.A previous U.S. paratrooper and also stone artist apprehended in Russia more than a year ago on medicine charges was penalized to 13 years behind bars on Thursday, the Moscow court body's press service stated.Michael Travis Leake, that faced the Moscow-based stone band Lovi Noch, was restrained in June 2023 after prosecutors indicted him of "arranging a medicine working company including youths.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Court located him bad of crimes hooked up to the purchase of illegal narcotics, the courtroom's media company pointed out in a post on Telegram. He was penalized to thirteen years in a maximum-security jail nest.Leake was actually incarcerated alongside Veronika Grabanchuk, yet another accused pronounced guilty of medicine costs. Her relationship to Leake was certainly not immediately clear.Arrests of U.S. people in Russia have actually increased in recent times, in what Washington considers a Kremlin scheme to protect the release of Russians sentenced abroad.And many more United States residents kept in Russian prisons are previous marines Robert Gilman and also Paul Whelan, as well as writers Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva.