JAKARTA - Russian court sentenced US citizen Michael Travis Leake to 13 years in prison for drug smuggling.

Leake, a US musician and former paratrooper who was arrested in June 2023, was found guilty of selling drugs on a large scale, Russian court services said Thursday, July 18.

As reported by Reuters, Leake is one of dozens of Americans currently detained in Russia. Washington urges its citizens to leave Russia immediately, citing threats of arrest and harassment amid the highest tensions between the two countries since the Cold War.

A spokesman for the American Embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Leake's sentence.

Another American, Robert Romanov Woodland, was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison by Russian courts earlier this month for drug smuggling.

Leake was convicted with another defendant, a woman. The couple was seen standing in the courtroom in a short video published by court services. Leake listened to the process with a gloomy expression, at one point shaking his head.

Leake, who is in his early 50s, is a former songwriter in rock band "Lovi Noch" ("Catch the night"). He also previously worked as an English teacher in Moscow and helped translate songs for Russian bands.


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