An American who was arrested in Russia over a year ago has been sentenced to 13 years in prison, a court in Moscow announced.
The convicted, Michael Travis Leake, is the frontman of the Moscow band Lovi Noch and a former paratrooper. He is to serve 13 years in a strict colony for selling illegal drugs after being accused of "organizing drug trafficking involving young people".
He is one of several Americans imprisoned in Russia. The US has urged its citizens to leave Russia immediately, citing the risk of being arrested due to the poor relations between the countries.
Several analysts suspect that Russia is imprisoning American citizens in order to use them as bargaining chips in prisoner exchanges.
Two weeks ago, another American citizen, Robert Woodland, was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison in Russia for drug offenses.
