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Krasnoyarsk governor slams US charges against his son as ‘politically motivated’

The US authorities have suddenly made purchases of oil products, publicly available equipment and machinery a crime, Alexander Uss noted

KRASNOYARSK, October 20. /TASS/. Krasnoyarsk Region governor Alexander Uss, whose son was detained in Italy and charged by US authorities of violating US sanctions and money laundering, dismissed the process as ‘politically motivated’ on Thursday.

"The US authorities have suddenly made purchases of oil products, publicly available equipment and machinery a crime. Why? Simply because it was done for the benefit of Russia. The political motives behind those charges are clear," the governor wrote in his Telegram channel.

On Wednesday, the US charged five Russian nationals and two oil traders that are Venezuelan nationals with sanctions evasion and money laundering. Under a 12-count indictment, charges were filed against Russia’s Yury Orekhov, Artem Uss, Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, Timofey Telegin and Sergey Tulyakov, and Venezuelan oil traders Juan Fernando Serrano Ponce and Juan Carlos Soto. According to the Department of Justice, Artem Uss is the son of Alexander Uss, the governor of Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Region.The statement alleged that the defendants were involved in "orchestrating a complex scheme to unlawfully obtain US military technology and Venezuelan sanctioned oil."

According to the US Department of Justice, Orekhov and Uss were detained in Germany and Italy, respectively, on October 17 and will undergo extradition proceedings. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of 30 years’ imprisonment.