Russia-Ukraine war: Italy Treasury freezes assets of Russian charged of evading sanctions

The Italian Treasury said over the weekend that it had frozen the assets of Russian Artem Uss, who fled the country as authorities were set to extradite him to the United States to face charges of evading sanctions. Uss was charged with shipping oil to Venezuela against the sanctions imposed by Washington.

The Italian Treasury said in a statement Friday that it has frozen the assets of Uss, who fled to Russia last month a day after a court in Milan agreed that Uss was to be transferred to the US to be tried on charges of shipping oil to Venezuela which is an evasion of US sanctions as well as bank fraud. Uss was under house arrest in his home in Basiglio on the outskirts of Milan. Uss’s electronic tracking tag alerted the authorities when he left the house but was already gone by the time the police arrived.

The Treasury then said that it had frozen Uss’ assets in Italy, including his minority stake in a private firm, his villa in Basiglio, and his Italian bank account that contained over $170,000. Uss’s escape was seen as a blow to the Italian government, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticizing the court’s decision to put Uss under house arrest.

The Italian justice minister has also launched disciplinary action against the three judges who granted house arrest, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Over the weekend, thousands of residents of the Russian city of Belgorod were forced to evacuate when a Russian plane accidentally dropped a bomb on the city two days before and damaged homes. The regional governor said over 3,000 people were made to evacuate while the bomb was being disposed of by the authorities. Belgorod is a city close to Russia’s border with Ukraine.

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov shared on the Telegram messaging platform that the military explosive experts were able to “neutralize” the bomb at a training ground and that the precautionary measures ended on the same day. Belgorod mayor Valentin Demidov also shared on Telegram that the residents were given the green light to return to their homes.