Russia Detains American Musician Travis Michael Leake on Drug Charges

Police in Moscow, Russia, arrested musician Travis Michael Leake, a U.S. citizen, last week on charges of running a drug trafficking ring “involving young people.”

Russian state media announced the arrest on Saturday and said Leake could face up to 20 years in prison.

Russian state media posted a video of Leake and a friend named Valeria Grobanyuk being taken into custody during a drug raid. In the clip, Leake expressed confusion about the reason for his arrest.

“I don’t understand why I’m here. I don’t admit guilt, I don’t believe I could have done what I’m accused of because I don’t know what I’m accused of,” he reportedly told the Moscow police.

Russian reports said Leake is suspected of selling mephedrone, a drug with effects similar to cocaine or MDMA. A Moscow court ordered him to be held in pre-trial detention for at least two months.

Leake is a musician and rock band manager who has written songs and performed backup vocals for several Russian punk rock bands. His social media profile says he has been the lead vocalist for a Moscow-based group called Lovi Noch (“Seize the Night”) for the past five years.

In 2014, Leake appeared on an episode of “Parts Unknown,” an offbeat travelog and food show hosted by the late Anthony Bourdain. The episode featured conversations with several critics of the increasingly authoritarian regime of Vladimir Putin — one of whom, former deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov, was assassinated a year after the episode aired.

Leake, who was reportedly “hand-picked” by Bourdain to appear in the episode, talked about the difficulty of creating art and music under Putin’s corrupt and paranoid government. He complained about the ability of the Russian government to control and censor productions made by foreign media outlets, which he said was already “a scandal of epic proportion” ten years ago.

“Travis was a showman; very articulate and he loved Russia. Bands from the Moscow rock scene would go to him to write songs in English for them and proofread their lyrics,” former “Parts Unknown” producer Darya Tarasova told CNN on Sunday.

Tarasova continued:

The last time we spoke was in 2018 and he seemed depressed and upset, but Travis would never do the things he is being accused of. He is an American in Russia and is very aware of the situation he’s in. But I’m surprised he stayed after the war started, as it was very risky for him.

Leake was rather more circumspect in Facebook posts he wrote after Russia invaded Ukraine. The UK Guardian quoted several posts he wrote to relatives who were concerned about him remaining in Russia, where he had lived for about ten years. 

“I am a guest in Russia, and as such, I have always believed that I have no right to press any political opinion, whether for or against whatever subject may be in question,” he wrote in one such Facebook post.

In another, he posted a photo of himself holding a sheet of paper that said, “Proof of life. Continue to not panic.”

Russian media claimed Leake is a “former U.S. paratrooper,” but international media outlets were unable to confirm any military service from him as of Monday morning.

The U.S. State Department issued a terse email about Leake’s arrest, stating that officials from the U.S. embassy were able to attend his arraignment on Saturday.

“When a U.S. citizen is detained overseas, the Department pursues consular access as soon as possible and works to provide all appropriate consular assistance. We will continue to monitor the case closely,” the statement said.

Leake’s mother, Glenda Garcia, told CNN on Sunday that she had not been contacted by the Joe Biden administration.

“I have not heard from the State Department. If I don’t hear from them tomorrow, I will try to call them. I don’t really know anything other than what I heard on the news,” she said.

Leake’s detention comes on the heels of Russia’s widely-condemned March arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was accused of espionage.

Many reports of Leake’s arrest also drew parallels with the case of WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was detained in February 2022 and released in an absurdly lopsided prisoner swap the following December in which the Biden administration handed over Viktor Bout, one of the most dangerous arms dealers in the world.

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) intelligence service in April 2023 for taking Americans like Gershkovich and Griner “hostage.”

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