The UK government has announced the expansion of its sanctions list against Russia. The move targets an extensive “shadow financial system,” including major international crypto platforms, P2P services, and banks that have helped Moscow bypass Western restrictions and fund its war economy.
According to an official statement from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the new restrictions target 18 individuals and entities (14 companies and 4 individuals). Digital assets are the primary target of this package, marking the first time in British practice that crypto-infrastructure has been placed at the very center of a sanctions package.
The central element of the new sanctions is the Kremlin-linked A7 crypto network. According to British government estimates, more than $90 billion may have passed through this network over the past year alone (an amount equivalent to nearly half of Russia’s annual military expenditure). The network actively utilized Kyrgyzstan’s financial system to siphon funds and process payments for Russian oil exports.
Key blocked platforms and organizations include:
Huobi Global S.A. (HTX Exchange) – One of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. According to London, the platform helped transfer approximately $1.5 billion into Russia through links with the already-sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and the A7 network.
EXMO Exchange – A cryptocurrency exchange popular among Russian-speaking traders.
Bitpapa – A well-known P2P service for digital asset exchange.
Rapira (Rapira Group LLC) – A payment system.
ABCEX (Nueva Cryptologia) – A crypto trading platform.
JSC “Eurasian Savings Bank” – A bank in Kyrgyzstan that, according to the British side, facilitated payments in the interest of the A7 network.
The restrictions entered into force immediately. British regulators have introduced two fundamentally new, stringent rules for the financial sector:
Ban on Correspondent Relations: British banks and financial institutions are strictly prohibited from maintaining any ties with the entities on the list.
Total Payment Block Across the Chain: British companies are barred from processing any transactions (in any currency) if the funds have, at any prior stage, passed through the blocked platforms (e.g., HTX or EXMO). This will force compliance departments to utilize sophisticated blockchain tracking tools to detect “dirty” coins.