A Russo-Italian architect dubbed
Putin's Architect' is holed up in Moscow and says he won't come
back to Italy where he is wanted on an arrest warrant from
Brescia prosecutors in a tax crime probe.
"Russia is my home. I have my work here, my interests and my
main relations," Lanfranco Cirillo told ANSA Thursday.
"At the moment I have no reason, not desire, to return to Italy,
given the treatment that has been given to me"," said the
63-year-old, who has long lived in Moscow and has designed major
projects for the Russian president.
Italian tax authorities have seized some 140 million euros from
Cirillo in the last few months.
A trial into alleged fiscal wrongdoing is set to open in Brescia
on February 23, and he has been declared a fugitive from Italian
justice.
Cirillo is a Russian architect of Italian origin, residing in
Moscow and Dubai. He is a founder and a co-owner of an
architectural studio, Masterskaja, in Moscow. In 2014, he
received Russian citizenship after more than 20 years of
residence in the country.
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