The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has added 17-year-old British schoolboy Alexander Browder, founder of the Global Cryptocurrency Laundering Database, to its sanctions list. Four other British citizens were also included in the restrictions alongside him.
According to an official statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, all five Britons are now banned from entering the territory of the Russian Federation. The ministry cited the “dissemination of slanderous fabrications and false information about the policies of the Russian leadership and socio-political events in the country” as the reason.
Alexander Browder, a sixth-form student (final years of British secondary school), appears to have become the youngest person against whom Russia has ever imposed personal sanctions. He is known as the author of a major open-source investigation into the illicit use of cryptocurrencies. In March 2026, Browder released the Global Cryptocurrency Laundering Database and a report analysing 164 major cases of money laundering through crypto assets totalling more than $350 billion.
His work paid particular attention to Russian schemes, including the use of the rouble stablecoin A7A5, which, according to the researcher, is actively used to circumvent Western sanctions and finance military operations. Browder also noted that Russia has become one of the key centres for cryptocurrency money laundering.
Alexander Browder himself reacted calmly to the sanctions, calling them an “honourable badge” and confirming that he will continue his research despite the entry ban to Russia and his upcoming A-level exams.
Alexander is the son of prominent financier and Kremlin critic Bill Browder, who has himself been under Russian sanctions since 2005.