Italian prosecutors say no evidence of Russian secret service role in escape of suspect sought by US
MILAN — There is no evidence of involvement of Russian secret services in the escape from Italian custody of a Russian businessman wanted by the US on sanctions evasion charges, Milan prosecutors told a news conference on Wednesday.
Two suspects have been arrested, one in northern Italy and one in Croatia, and another four are wanted for helping Artyom Uss, the 40-year-old son of the governor of Russia's vast Krasnoyarsk region in eastern Siberia, escape to house arrest near Milan last March. He had been arrested five months earlier at a Milan airport as he tried to board a flight to Istanbul.
USS disappeared a day after an Italian court approved his extradition to the United States, which had offered a $7 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction on charges of smuggling American technologies in violation of Western sanctions and money laundering. USS resurfaced in Russia last April.
He faces a prison sentence of up to 30 years, Milan prosecutors said.
According to the U.S. Department of State, USS organized the transnational fraud, smuggling and money laundering in part through a Hamburg, Germany-based company. He and another unknown suspect are accused of illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of dual-use military technologies from the United States to Russia and using the US financial system to smuggle millions of barrels of oil out of Venezuela, in violation is subject to US and other sanctions. .
Italian media have claimed that Russian intelligence services were involved in the escape, taking his electronic bracelet and chasing him out of the country with a fake passport before taking a private jet to Russia.
But prosecutor Marcello Viola told reporters there was no evidence to support this so far.
Viola said the suspects were first identified by a license plate number from one of the vehicles used in the escape, and then by phone records and images. “This escape was extensively planned over the past few days,” Viola said, with some suspects surveilling the house where Uss was staying at least five times. During two of those times, the bracelet's alarm went off, leading prosecutors to believe they were testing the system.
In total, the bracelet alarm went off 124 times in the 79 days of house arrest, many for technical reasons, but some appeared to be part of the planning phase. Each time, Italian carabinieri went to the house to check.
The United States, Interpol and the EU criminal justice agency assisted in the investigation, which Viola said remained in a “hot phase” as suspects remain at large, some in non-European countries. A father and son of Bosnian descent have been arrested, while the other suspects have been identified as Slovenian and Serb.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has acknowledged “anomalies” in USs' handling, including an appeals court ruling to place him under house arrest a month after his arrest.