The Kremlin is threatening retaliatory action after authorities arrested Artyom Uss, the son of a top Russian official, at the United States’ request, for allegedly participating in a sanctions evasion and money laundering scheme.
Uss, who was detained in Milan, was charged in relation to a scheme to unlawfully obtain U.S. military technology and sanctioned Venezuelan oil in order to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, according to charges unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice this week.
“We are categorically against this and we condemn the practice of these kinds of arrests of Russian citizens,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Uss’ father, the governor of Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Krai region, Alexander Uss, has suggested the arrest is politically motivated, according to TASS.
Another Russian government spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said Moscow would not leave the United States’ search for Russians “unanswered” and accused the U.S. of “taking hostages for “political purposes,” TASS reported.
Uss wasn’t the only one charged in the money laundering and smuggling scheme. Uss co-owned a trading company called Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau GmbH (NDA GmbH) which he and co-conspirators allegedly used as a front to ship U.S. defense technology to Russia.
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