The arrest and subsequent escape of Artem Uss present still unclear points, which could explain what is really happening in the repositioning of powers and lobbies in Russia after 13 months of war. Lavrov or Miller are insistently spoken of as ferrymen if Putin should be stopped or fall.
Meanwhile Artem is the son of the Russian governor of the Krasnoyarsk region, Alexander Usswho has been at odds with one of Russia’s most powerful oligarchs since 2019, Vladimir Potanin. Potanin, who served as deputy prime minister of the Russian government in the mid-1990s, controls metals and mining giant Nornickel, which produces more than 30% of the world‘s palladium, 10% of the world‘s nickel and other metals. He repeatedly topped the list of the richest people in Russia and the magazine Forbes now he estimates his fortune at 17 billion dollars.
The row started after Nornickel allowed a environmental disaster at his facility in Krasnoyarsk Krai, of which Uss-senior is governor. At the time, the company caused more than 21,000 tons of diesel to leak from an old dilapidated tank – it was the largest Arctic environmental disaster in human history. Uss blamed it on Nornickel’s misguided strategy that she was forced to pay for a record fine of 2 billion dollars.
Uss-senior further said that Nornickel paid huge dividends to his shareholders (Potanin received at least $15 billion during the years of his ownership), but few taxes to the regional budget. This has prompted Potanin to launch attempts to oust the governor in various ways and it is entirely possible that the case over the chips and microchips purchased by Artem’s company Uss for use in the Russian “Kinzhal” and “Kalibr” missiles is part of an effort to resolve this conflict and end his father’s political career, using the American court.
Potanin’s security service is one of the most powerful in Russia and has connections all over the world: it could be behind the “leakage” of information to the Americans about chip e microchip allegedly bought by the company of Artem Uss? Sources in Moscow and Washington cannot rule out this possibility, on the other hand if Uss junior were extradited to the United States he would have to collaborate in the investigation, which inevitably leads to his father’s resignation.
A very similar story happened 15 years ago with Potanin’s longtime business partner, with whom he had a stumbling block: between a high-profile scandal involving his detention and arrest by French secret services at a Courchevel, the billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov he was forced to withdraw from the common business and enter the shadows due to the potential damage to his image.
Artem Uss declares himself not guilty of the accusations against him, because he held no position in NDA GmBH, suspected of illegal shipments; he did not have access to the accounts of this company nor did he make any profit from it; he would never have been involved in any negotiations with fuel oil suppliers and has not visited the United States for that purpose Venezuela or the Caribbean. Petroleum products have not crossed US borders and have only moved from terminals in independent countries. Artem Uss had no suspicions about the legitimacy of the origin of petroleum products during the delivery period – this is his thesis.
According to the preliminary legal opinion, the offending acts are punishable in the United States mainly with financial penalties. In the European Union, crimes related to the violation of US sanctions are not punishable. In addition, the EU has adopted, among other things, decisions expressly prohibiting European companies from implementing US sanctions.
The recent decision of the court of Milan allows theextradition of Uss in the United States to be prosecuted only for violation of US sanctions and bank fraud. In doing so, the court started from clearly erroneous assumptions, say its lawyers, and went beyond the concept of double criminality (the simultaneous punishability of acts in the requested and requesting State): in Italy the violation of the American sanctioning laws is not criminally punishable.
But beyond the legal aspects, an element of position emerges: Uss senior is also a member of the board of directors of Rosneft, the largest Russian oil company. Potanin, though considered Western-oriented, was until recently seen as a possible negotiator on the Ukrainian question. In other words, there is a split in the ranks of the Kremlin elite.
@FDepalo