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From their point of view, American investigators had everything they needed to solve one of the largest smuggling operations for the Russian war machine. They tracked money flows, intercepted chat messages, read emails, recorded witness statements and exposed a company in Malaysia as a shell company. And most importantly, they had suspects who were connected to the Russian elite and who ran their business from Europe. A potentially unique opportunity.

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Connections to the Kremlin

Police in Germany, Italy and Latvia struck almost simultaneously in October 2022. The main suspect was arrested on the way to Milan airport. For his apparently closest confidant, who ran the business for him through a Hamburg GmbH, the handcuffs clicked near his home address.

This was nothing less than spectacular, because the main suspect is called Artem Uss and is the son of the then governor of the Russian region of Krasnoyarsk. His father is said to have high-ranking contacts in the Kremlin, and his connections to noted aluminum oligarch Oleg Deripaska have been extensively documented. It is said that at least parts of the work for Deripaska has been carried out. A similar arrest has not occurred for years.

But as spectacular as the access was, the investigations have now failed spectacularly. USS not only fled from Italy to Russia in the spring with a cinematic escape. According to information from t-online, the man cannot be extradited from Germany to the US for his company in Hamburg and he is now free again. The highly political process is threatening to become a fiasco – and the European authorities have so far failed to provide a good picture.

FBI Director Christopher Wray was confident when he unsealed the charges to the Eastern District of New York prosecutors in October 2022: “The FBI will continue to aggressively support the purchase of oil, laundered and illegally sourced from the US. ‘ Stop acquiring military technology from companies that support Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.”

“Just get it from Germany”

Starting in Hamburg, his authority discovered a network of companies through which Uss and his partner allegedly transported weapons material and Venezuelan oil to Russia, according to their findings.

The goods were explosive: microprocessors and semiconductors for fighter jets and missiles, an automated machine system used in nuclear programs. Some identical parts were later found in Russian weapons systems that Putin’s army left behind on the battlefield in Ukraine. The published indictment skimped on details and the evidence seemed overwhelming.

Both communications with sanctioned defense companies in Russia and communications with suppliers in the US and Venezuela were recorded. The investigators apparently even obtained internal messages: “Let’s just get it from Germany and complete the delivery,” the American governor in Hamburg wrote to a colleague shortly after the start of the war.

Urgent request from the Americans

According to the news, he even revealed his real client to Venezuelan traders with whom he allegedly shipped sanctioned oil worth more than $32 million: “He is also under sanctions. That is why we do business with this company [in Hamburg] out. As camouflage.” According to the American researchers, this meant: Oleg Deripaska. The governor of Hamburg described his aluminum company as the ‘parent company’.

But in the weeks after the arrests, fortunes began to turn for American investigators. Both Uss and its partner in Hamburg took legal action against their planned deliveries. Kremlin and USS authorities demanded extradition to Russia, but the process dragged on. Uss was soon released under house arrest in a suburb of Milan – according to ‘La Stampa’ and ‘Wall Street Journal’, against the express request of the US Embassy, ​​as suspects repeatedly took this opportunity to escape.

“I’m in Russia!”

“Granting us house arrest unreasonably increases the significant risk that he will do the same,” the media quoted the letter to the Italian Justice Ministry as saying. The request was not heard, with serious consequences. On March 22, the day after his extradition to the United States was decided, the alarm on his ankle bracelet went off dozens of times – reportedly due to technical problems. Onss then disappeared.

“I’m in Russia!” he announced a few days later to the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti. “In these particularly dramatic days, strong and reliable people were by my side.” His father thanked Putin via a video message and was shortly afterwards appointed to national politics from his governorship. Since then, Italy has speculated about the involvement of Russian secret services in the film-worthy plot.

Ruling of the court in Hamburg

The investigators’ hopes therefore rested on the director and co-partner of Hamburger GmbH, through whom the cases were allegedly carried out. He is also Russian and comes from the Krasnoyarsk region. At the time he was still in German custody awaiting extradition. But this prospect also did not materialize, as t-online has now discovered.

In mid-August, the Hanze Higher Regional Court rejected his extradition to the US. The written motivation for the judgment is available on t-online. The smuggling of oil from Venezuela, hit by US sanctions, to Russia and China is not punishable under German law. The same applies to the hidden money flows and false information provided to American banks.

The suspected escape helpers

Because the US embassy did not provide sufficient assurance that these charges would be excluded from the conviction, the extradition was also inadmissible due to the sanctions violations that are punishable in Germany. The Hamburg Public Prosecution Service confirmed the decision, no pre-trial detention was subsequently ordered and further information about the procedural complex was not possible. While still in prison, the man sold his shares in the Uss company and also gave up his position as director.

For the time being, the only option was to go after the Uss escape helpers: it now seems certain to investigators that Serbian organized crime played an important role. A few days ago, Italian emergency services, in collaboration with the FBI, arrested six suspects. They allegedly freed the governor’s son from the ankle bracelet and took him to Serbia in several cars. The Italian police have meticulously reconstructed the route. Once there, Uss boarded a plane to Russia.

It seems like a fairly small success when you consider that the suspects just eluded American investigators. But at least someone who has made it possible to instill confidence in the light of the new arrests. “Artem Uss remains at large,” said Lisa Monaco, assistant attorney general for the Eastern District of New York. “No matter how many times he abuses connections with criminal groups in Europe, he only temporarily escapes arrest.” The authorities now rely on the power of money. They are offering a $7 million reward for information leading to Uss’ arrest.