Government accuses Moscow of relying on "dodgy crypto networks" to finance the war in Ukraine.
The UK has rolled out fresh sanctions on Kyrgyz financial institutions and cryptocurrency firms accused of helping Russia sidestep restrictions and channel funds into its war effort.
Sanctions minister Stephen Doughty said Moscow has relied on "dodgy crypto networks" to finance the war in Ukraine, stressing the new steps aim to cut off illicit pipelines supporting the Kremlin, according to Security Affairs.
The measures target Capital Bank and its director Kantemir Chalbayev, as well as Old Vector, a Kyrgyz company tied to billions in transactions linked to sanctioned crypto exchange Garantex, which was also accused of issuing tokens to help users bypass restrictions.
The UK further sanctioned Altair Holding, parent of Keremet Bank, mirroring US actions. Analysts note Britain's measures hit Russian-linked actors by restricting access to London's financial and legal systems.
Investigators previously found Garantex shifted clients to Grinex to evade sanctions, moving more than $100 million tied to ransomware groups like Conti, LockBit, and Ryuk.
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
