LONDON: The UK on Wednesday (Aug 20) announced a crackdown against eight individuals and entities that have helped Russia circumvent Western sanctions through financial and cryptocurrency networks based in Kyrgyzstan.
London announced new sanctions against five organisations and three individuals, including the Kyrgyz-based Capital Bank and its director, Kantemir Chalbayev, “which Russia uses to pay for military goods”, the Foreign Office said.
The Grinex and Meer cryptocurrency exchanges, which trade the A7A5 “stablecoin” – a supposedly stable digital currency pegged to the rouble – have also been sanctioned.
$9.3B MOVED ON CRYPTO EXCHANGE IN 4 MONTHS
The token “has moved $9.3bn on a dedicated crypto exchange in just four months and is specifically designed as an attempt to evade western sanctions”, the Foreign Office said.
“If the Kremlin thinks they can hide their desperate attempts to soften the blow of our sanctions by laundering transactions through dodgy crypto networks – they are sorely mistaken,” said Sanctions Minister Stephen Doughty.
The announcement follows a similar move last week by the United States, which also targeted Grinex.
The action comes “as the UK and international allies redoubled efforts to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine”, the ministry said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday chaired an online meeting of around 30 countries, mainly European, following talks in Washington between US and Ukrainian leaders Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.
