A Serbian man assisted a Russian businessman wanted by the US on smuggling charges escape house arrest in Italy next spring, according to U.S. officials. This astonishing escape embarrassed European officials and upset Washington.
On December 4, the same day that Vladimir Jovancic, 52, was detained by Serbian authorities upon entering the country, the charges against him were revealed. They had been decided by a U.S. grand jurors in October. Prosecutors in the United States declared they would get his abduction.
Separately, Italian prosecutors declared they had located six individuals who also assisted Artyom Uss, a Russian business, in escaping in March. A Bosnian-Italian man and four foreigners who were living overseas were among the people.
The arrest warrants, which appeared to be from Jovancic, were executed in Brescia in northeastern Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia, according to the lawyers, on December 5.
Uss, 40, was accused by U.S. officials last year of overseeing a complex, years-long sneaking scheme that brought sympathetic military equipment to Russia and of reportedly trafficking Venezuelan oil in violation of US sanctions.
According to U.S. leaders, Uss and another Russian, Yury Orekhov, used Nord- Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau as a top business to buy sensitive military and dual-use systems from American companies. According to the Justice Department, the products included cutting-edge electronics and microchips used in fighter aircraft, missile systems, sensor, satellites, and another space-based military programs.
According to authorities, some of the cards were discovered in Russian military equipment discovered on the Ukrainian battlefield.
According to U.S. officers, the German organization was also used as a front to bring hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela to buyers in China and Russia.
On October 17, 2022, as Uss was getting ready to board a trip to Istanbul, European authorities detained him at Milan’s aircraft. European police detainedOrekhov.
A Milan judge ordered Uss to be transferred from prison to house arrest about a month afterward. U. S. officials warned that this maneuver might be risky because of Usz’s family.
The rich merchant Aleksandr Uss is related to Igor Sechin, the CEO of the state oil tycoon Rosneft, who is thought to have worked for Russian intelligence companies in the 1980s. He is connected to the Kremlin. Up until earlier this year, Aleksandr Uss was also the government of Krasnoyarsk, a vast, mineral-rich Siberian area.
Artyom Uss was permitted to offer his home arrest in a mansion in an upscale suburb north of Milan, where he was given visitors and Internet access while also being required to wear an electronic checking ring. Often, Italian police also kept an eye on him.
The U.S. extradition request was granted by a jury on March 22. The following morning, Uss allegedly escaped from house arrest with the assistance of Jovancic and another identified individuals, who “escorted us into a car and gave us pin cutters, which uss used to reduce his electric ankle monitor and toss it out the window.”
According to the indictment, Uss was finally driven into Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina before crossing into Serbia and flying to Moscow.
Jovancic, who reportedly received 50,000 euros for his services from Uss’s family, had pretended to be a food delivery man in order to get past security personnel.
Uss announced to Russian internet in April that he had returned to Russia.
” I’m in Russia!” He was cited by the express news organization RIA Novosti on April 4 as saying,” I had strong and reliable citizens by my side in these recent especially dramatic time.”
” The European judge, whose objectivity I had initially relied upon, showed its blatant political bias.” However, it is prepared to give in to pressure from U.S. government.
Italian prosecutors revealed additional information about Uss’s leave and named four additional alleged accomplices at a press conference on December 6 in Milan. The names, according to European media, were Boris, the son of Jovancic, Matej Janezic, a Romanian man, and Srdjan Lolic and Nebojsa Illic, two Serbian men.
The Milan lawyer’s office was not immediately reachable for additional comment.
U.S. authorities and some European officials were outraged by Uss’s leave and questioned why someone with a history of high flight risk should be permitted house arrest.
Giorgina Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, stated in April when she was questioned by investigators about the escape that the situation was “quite critical.” There are undoubtedly oddities. The judge’s decision to keep him under house arrest for dubious factors and to uphold the judgement even when there was a choice on extradition, in my opinion, is the main anomaly.
The U.S. State Department announced a$ 7 million reward for information leading to Uss ‘ arrest or conviction on December 5, the day after the indictment against Jovancic was revealed.
