A crackdown on Kyrgyz finance including a state-owned bank will help keep money out of Moscow’s war chest, a Foreign Office minister has said.
Stephen Doughty unveiled sanctions against eight organisations and individuals on Wednesday, and said the move would help “keep up the pressure on” Russian president Vladimir Putin, who he alleged was exploiting “dodgy crypto networks”.
Kyrgyzstan’s Capital Bank, formally known as the OJSC Capital Bank of Central Asia, was among the sanctioned organisations, along with its director Kantemir Chalbayev.
Leonid Shumakov, who is understood to be the director of the rouble-linked A7A5 cryptocurrency token, also features on the list of sanctions targets, along with Grinex LLC, CJSC Tengricoin, Old Vector LLC, Zhanyshbek Uulu Nazarbek and Altair Holding SA.
According to the Government, A7A5 has moved 9.3 billion US dollars (£6.9 billion) on a dedicated cryptocurrency exchange in just four months.
“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,” Mr Doughty said.
“These sanctions keep up the pressure on Putin at a critical time and crack down on the illicit networks being used to funnel money into his war chest.
“Alongside our allies, we will continue to support the US-led drive to end this illegal war and secure a just and lasting peace.”
The Kremlin has, in turn, sanctioned 21 individuals, including former Labour MP Denis MacShane, several journalists, and the Government-appointed independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced in a statement that its move was “in response to London’s ongoing confrontational course, which includes efforts to demonise” Russia, tackling “individuals who spread disinformation and unfounded accusations”.
London and Moscow traded sanctions after a pair of summits on Friday and Monday, when US President Donald Trump said “everyone is happy about the possibility of peace” in eastern Europe.
Mr Trump, who hosted Mr Putin in Anchorage and then his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, claimed he had begun planning for trilateral talks between the three leaders.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who was in the White House with Mr Zelensky and several other European leaders, welcomed early-stage plans for three-way talks as a “sensible next step”.
Mr Trump also claimed the Putin administration would “accept” multinational efforts to guarantee Ukraine’s security, to ward off future Russian attacks.
A YouGov poll of more than 6,300 adults found that 57% of Britons would support deploying British soldiers as peacekeepers in Ukraine, if a peace deal to end the war is reached, with 25% opposed.
