The businessman and son of the governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory Artyom Uss escaped from house arrest in Italy. This is reported by the Italian edition of La Stampa and the ANSA agency.

According to reporters, Uss broke his electronic bracelet and fled his apartment in Milan when the carabinieri arrived there. There is no official confirmation of this information.

Krasnoyarsk Territory Governor Alexander Uss, commenting on the report of the escape, said he did not know where his son was. According to Uss Sr., the carabinieri carefully guarded the apartment and sometimes checked it several times a night, so it’s not clear how Artyom Uss could have escaped.

Alexander Uss is convinced of his son’s innocence and believes that Uss Jr. is being persecuted in order to be exchanged for American citizens in Russia. “I am absolutely convinced that he has become either some kind of victim for the guarantee fund or a victim in a big political game,” said the head of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

On March 21, we learned that the Milan Court of Appeal had approved the extradition of Uss to the United States. There he is accused of supplying electronics and Venezuelan oil by circumventing the sanctions regime, money laundering and bank fraud.

Washington says USS companies bought electronics and shipped them to Russia from manufacturers on the sanctions list. In particular, we are talking about modern semiconductors and microprocessors that are used in Russian combat aircraft, missile systems, guided munitions, radars and satellites.

Uss denies his guilt and requests his extradition to Russia. Already after being arrested in the suburbs of Milan, the businessman was arrested in absentia by the Meshchansky court in Moscow on suspicion of money laundering. The details of this case are unknown, the arrest in absentia could be used to exempt the businessman from extradition to New York.

The ANSA publication, citing lawyers, writes that the United States may consider exchanging Uss later for American Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 for espionage.