.A former USA paratrooper and stone artist restrained in Russia much more than a year ago on medication costs was punished to 13 years in prison on Thursday, the Moscow court device's media service said.Michael Travis Leake, who faced the Moscow-based stone band Lovi Noch, was actually apprehended in June 2023 after district attorneys charged him of "managing a medicine handling business involving youths.".Moscow's Khamovnitchesky Courthouse discovered him responsible of criminal activities connected to the purchase of illegal narcotics, the courthouse's media solution mentioned in a blog post on Telegram. He was punished to 13 years in a maximum-security jail swarm.Leake was actually incarcerated together with Veronika Grabanchuk, one more defendant convicted of medicine fees. Her relation to Leake was actually not quickly very clear.Arrests of U.S. people in Russia have boosted in the last few years, in what Washington considers a Kremlin tactic to protect the launch of Russians sentenced abroad.To name a few American people composed Russian prisons are past marines Robert Gilman and also Paul Whelan, in addition to journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva.