The United Kingdom has implemented a comprehensive package of sanctions aimed at the financial infrastructure of Russia, which has used cryptocurrency platforms to circumvent international restrictions. A key achievement of these measures has been the personal removal of leaders of the shadow cryptocurrency market who facilitated the funding of the aggressor’s war machine.
This is reported by Finway
Details of the sanctions and key participants
As reported by the President’s Commissioner for Sanctions Policy Vladislav Vlasuk, the new package of British sanctions announced on May 26, 2026, is aimed at halting the activities of the financial infrastructure that allowed Russia to support external payments, particularly through cryptocurrencies. London’s strike was focused on two main areas — cryptocurrency exchanges and the so-called “A7 network,” created with the involvement of the Kremlin to circumvent financial restrictions, ensure military procurement, and redistribute oil revenues.
According to Vlasuk, over the past year, transactions worth more than $90 billion have been conducted through this network, which corresponds to approximately half of the annual military expenditures of the Russian Federation.
Sanctioned platforms and individuals
The new sanctions target the following key participants in the crypto market:
- RAPIRA GROUP LLC — a cryptocurrency exchange registered in Georgia, focused on the Russian market, actively linked to the “A7” ecosystem and sanctioned entities. The platform conducts operations with exchanges such as Garantex (Grinex) and Bitpapa, supports ruble transactions, and interacts with several Russian banks that are under U.S. sanctions. After Garantex was blocked, this exchange became one of the main venues for users seeking alternative ways to exchange cryptocurrency without mandatory verification.
- ABCeX — a crypto platform registered in El Salvador (NUEVA CRYPTOLOGIA SOCIEDAD POR ACCIONES SIMPLIFICADA DE CAPITAL VARIABLE), with a turnover of over $11 billion. It allows the exchange of rubles for crypto assets without traditional banking restrictions, using cash and P2P schemes. The platform has offices in Russia and closely collaborates with sanctioned exchanges, making it convenient for informal financial operations.
- AIFORY LLC — another Georgian cryptocurrency exchange specializing in servicing the Russian market by organizing payments in the “ruble-cryptocurrency” format. After Garantex’s closure, a significant portion of clients switched to this platform. Aifory also interacts with the Iranian platform Abantether, through which approximately $2 million in cryptocurrency transactions have been recorded.
- Additionally, the sanctions list includes platforms EXMO EXCHANGE LIMITED, ARVIX LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, and BITPAPA IC FZC LLC, which were also used to circumvent financial restrictions.
“The new comprehensive package of sanctions from the United Kingdom, effective May 26, 2026, targets the financial infrastructure that Russia uses to circumvent restrictions and support external payments, particularly through cryptocurrency,” he stated.
Sanctions were also imposed on Sergey Mendeleev, co-founder of the Garantex exchange and the Exved platform, who has long organized schemes to circumvent sanctions. Along with him, top managers of the “A7” group of companies — Deputy General Directors Igor Gorin and Irina Akopyan, as well as Israeli citizen Liran Cohen, linked to this network, were also sanctioned.
In addition to private entities, state institutions of Kyrgyzstan — Eurasian Savings Bank and Virtual Asset Issuer, which participated in financial operations benefiting the Russian market, were also sanctioned.
As a result, according to Vlasuk, the greatest achievement of this package has been the personal “zeroing out” of the leaders and architects of the shadow cryptocurrency market of the Russian Federation. Some decisions in this package are based on materials and proposals that the Ukrainian side, particularly the National Bank of Ukraine, provided to the British side within the framework of sanctions coordination. The Ukrainian authorities emphasize their intention to continue increasing pressure on every transaction and individual financing aggression against Ukraine or facilitating prohibited financial operations.