A Russian man accused of smuggling military technology has escaped house arrest in Italy ahead of his extradition to the United States.

Artem Uss has reportedly broken off his electronic bracelet and gone on the run one day after a court in Italy agreed to hand him over to the American authorities.

The Russian national, who has been accused of smuggling military technology after being detained at Milan’s Malpensa airport last October on an international arrest warrant, has reportedly escaped from his house in Cascina Vione di Basiglio in the province of Milan.

American prosecutors charged Uss and four other Russian citizens with taking military technology bought from US manufacturers and giving it to Russian buyers last year.

Some of the technology reportedly ended up on the battlefields of Ukraine.

But the Milan appeals court reportedly said in a statement on Tuesday, 21st March, that it had agreed to extradite Uss to the United States for smuggling oil and not for smuggling military technologies, saying there was a lack of evidence regarding the latter.

The Italian authorities reportedly believe that Uss may have already left the country.

When the Italian police arrived at the apartment to check on Uss, they reportedly found the door closed and the television on. They have not ruled out the involvement of Russian intelligence.

Uss’ father, the Governor of the Russian Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia, Alexander Uss, has reportedly said that he does not understand how his son Artem escaped from house arrest.

According to the politician, Artyom was very well guarded and checked up on even at night.

He said on social media: “As a father, I am worried about the fate of my son. I don’t know his whereabouts, as well as the details of what happened.

“I can say that, according to Artem, the apartment in which he was under house arrest was very carefully guarded. He was even visited several times at night. Therefore, it is absolutely incomprehensible to me how he could disappear from there.”

A trained lawyer, according to Russian media, Governor Uss is reportedly convinced of his son’s innocence, adding: “What happened was to be expected. On the eve of the trial in several countries of the world, several articles of a clearly ordered nature were published, where I am against the backdrop of the Kremlin, at a meeting with the President of our country Vladimir Putin.

“This clearly does not apply to Artem’s case […].”

Governor Uss told Russian media that he believes that the case against his son has been manufactured.