After an Italian court on Tuesday approved the extradition of a Russian citizen to US judicial authorities, he went into hiding. The Russian was under house arrest in a Milan apartment awaiting extradition. He is now wanted across Lombardy, Italian media reported.
Oil shipped from Venezuela?
The Russian is accused, among other things, of having delivered oil from Venezuela in violation of sanctions. He was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport in October last year on an international arrest warrant and is now under house arrest for violating an embargo on Venezuela and bank fraud.
Milan’s Court of Appeal announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to extradite Artem U., but only on two of the four charges against him in the United States. His lawyer can now appeal to the Supreme Court of Rome to prevent his client’s extradition.
Thus, the Court of Appeals refused to extradite the Russians for the alleged crime of smuggling US military technology into Russia and money laundering. Last year, US prosecutors accused the man and four other Russian nationals of supplying military technology purchased from US manufacturers to Russian customers, some of which was used on the battlefield in Ukraine. According to prosecutors, they used a German company to supply military technology and Venezuelan oil to Russian buyers.