ROME, May 10. /TASSS/. The US has no proof that Russian special services were involved in the flight by Russian businessman Artyom Uss from house arrest in Italy, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing a US intelligence official.

"So far, we have seen no signs that Russian special services helped Artyom Uss to leave Italy," the paper quoted him as saying. According to Corriere della Sera, the Milan prosecutor’s office has sent formal inquiries to Germany, Serbia and Slovenia as part of its investigation, specifically concerning the license plate numbers of Uss’s vehicle and the four to five individuals who allegedly accompanied him in his flight.

A US State Department official earlier told the newspaper that, although US authorities were disappointed that Uss had escaped, the incident would not affect the partnership between Washington and Rome. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expected to meet with US President Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Japan and to visit Washington in the second half of June. According to the paper, the Italian prime minister’s primary goal is to affirm the country’s role as "the United States’ privileged partner in the EU."

Artyom Uss, the son of former Krasnoyarsk Region Governor Alexander Uss, is charged with evading sanctions and money laundering in the US, and faces a prison term of 20 to 30 years. He was detained at Milan’s Malpensa Airport on October 17, 2022. After this initial detention, Uss was placed under house arrest to await a court decision on his extradition to the US. On March 21, a Milan court ordered that the Russian national be extradited to the United States. On March 23, however, it was reported that Uss had absconded. He later reappeared voluntarily at the Russian Interior Ministry’s investigative department. A Russian court had previously placed Uss on the international wanted list in connection with a major money laundering case and also demanded his extradition.

The Uss case led to a collision between various branches of the Italian government. On the one hand, the Justice Ministry sought to lay the blame on the judges who had placed Uss under house arrest after he had been detained at the request of US law enforcement authorities. The judges, in turn, have pointed out that they acted in accordance with the law after having received no specific requests from the ministry or the prosecutor’s office. The Justice Ministry earlier initiated disciplinary proceedings against the judges, saying that they "committed serious and inexcusable negligence" when handing down a decision on Uss.

The Russian national’s assets worth over 160,000 euros were frozen in Italy in April along with real estate he owns in San Basilio.