Italian Police Reportedly Arrest Russian In Connection With 2023 Artyom Uss Escape
By Mike Eckel, Fletcher alum and Senior News Correspondent
Italian authorities say they have arrested a Russian businessman living in Switzerland in connection with the March 2023 escape of Artyom Uss, a Russian man who fled Italian house arrest just prior to extradition to the United States.
The arrest of the man, identified by Italian media as Dmitry Chirakadze, 54, is the latest twist in the winding mystery of how Uss, the son of a powerful former Russian governor, managed to elude Italian authorities and secretly return to Russia.
Italian prosecutors previously identified six people as being accomplices in Uss’s escape; three are in custody in Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. The man held in Croatia, Vladimir Jovancic, is awaiting his own extradition to the United States.
Chirakadze was arrested on June 14 as he arrived at Rome’s Fiumicino airport from Sardinia, according to Italian media.
Milan prosecutors and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Italian media identified Chirakadze as the founder of a Russian legal-services website called Pravo.ru and married to a Russian woman named Lyubov Orlova.
He’s reportedly the owner of a a luxury resort in Sardinia and a hunting estate in Krasnoyarsk, the Siberian region where Uss is from originally. Uss’s father was the governor of Krasnoyarsk until resigning last year, around the time that Uss escaped.
He also served as former deputy governor of Kemerovo, located in the heart of Russia’s coal-mining Kuzbas region.
Uss was indicted by a U.S. grand jury in 2022, charged as part of an alleged scheme to smuggle dual-use technologies to Russia, evading Western sanctions imposed in punishment for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He was arrested at the Milan airport in October 2022, and ordered held, pending hearings to decide on his extradition to the United States.
Italian authorities agreed to let him wait out the proceeding under house arrest, with an electronic monitoring bracelet — a decision that was publicly criticized by U.S. officials.
In March 2023, Uss escaped from the villa in Milan’s southern suburbs, breaking off his monitoring bracelet, and driving east. About three weeks later, he announced his presence back in Russia.
The incident embarrassed the Italian authorities and even drew criticism from Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who said the decision to release him from house arrest had “anomalies.” One Italian lawmaker said Italy had “embarrassed itself internationally.”
The United States later announced a $5 million reward for information leading to Uss’s arrest.
After Uss’s return, his father Aleksandr publicly thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his help in securing his son’s release.
(This post is republished from The Jamestown Foundation.)