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Boilerplate with today's count, the fact sheet, approved photos, the clips, and how to describe him. jonathan@lucidpublicrelations.com. Text, Signal, WhatsApp: +1 310 713 4351.
Two lengths, current as of September 30, 2026
Michael "Travis" Leake, an American citizen and U.S. Air Force veteran from Bakersfield, California, has been held in Russia since June 6, 2023. He is serving 13 years at IK-6, a penal colony in Vladimir Oblast. His advocates have asked the State Department to designate him wrongfully detained. It has not. He was never a paratrooper.
Michael "Travis" Leake, an American citizen and U.S. Air Force veteran, has been held in Russia since June 6, 2023. Today is Day 1,213. Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court sentenced him to 13 years on July 18, 2024. He is held at IK-6, a penal colony in Melekhovo, Vladimir Oblast. His advocates have asked the State Department to designate him wrongfully detained. It has not. A black iPhone seized in the search of his apartment appears in no later evidence record in the 690-page court file, and no fingerprint or DNA test of anything seized appears in it either. He served in the Air Force in 1989–90 as a heating-and-air-conditioning mechanic in Arizona, never in combat, and never as a paratrooper.
| Name | Michael "Travis" Leake |
|---|---|
| Citizenship | United States |
| Service | U.S. Air Force, 1989–90, 832d Civil Engineering Squadron, Arizona |
| Detained | June 6, 2023, Moscow |
| Court | Khamovnichesky District Court, Moscow |
| Case number | 12301450020000355 |
| Counts | Five, under Articles 30, 228 and 228.1 of the Russian Criminal Code |
| Sentence | 13 years, strict-regime colony, July 18, 2024 |
| Appeal | Upheld by the Moscow City Court, April 10, 2025 |
| Cassation | Denied, October 2025 |
| Held at | IK-6, Melekhovo, Vladimir Oblast |
| Designation | Not designated. Renewed request filed February 12, 2025. |
Last verified September 30, 2026.
"What I am not is a drug dealer, and there is no reason for me to be here."
Travis Leake, recorded appeal, summer 2026. Watch.
Approved photographs
Courtesy of the Leake family / Free Travis Leake campaign. Free to use with credit. Click for the full-size file; the press kit carries the 2,700-pixel versions.
