A Russian national has been sentenced to prison for using cryptocurrency to financially aid the Ukrainian armed forces.
This is the first publicly known case in Russia of the use of digital currency to finance a military group.
Crypto funding of the Ukrainian army
A resident of the Mirninsky district of Yakutia was sentenced to seven years in prison in a maximum security penal colony for financially supporting a Ukrainian terrorist organization, the FSB Directorate for the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) said. reported on January 14.
The individual, an employee of a diamond mining company, was found guilty of transferring funds to Ukrainian forces via cryptocurrency. The financial assistance was intended for a unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), contributing to their reconnaissance and subversive activities against Russian security interests.
The investigation revealed that the offender joined a terrorist organization group on a social network, where he received detailed instructions from Ukrainian curators on how to transfer the funds to a designated cryptocurrency wallet.
The conviction follows a previous report on January 10 that a resident of Yenakiyevo, Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), was arrested on treason charges. The detainee was accused of repeatedly transferring money to electronic accounts intended to finance personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This decision follows a related case in which a Russian national apprehended to finance digital accounts linked to the Ukrainian armed forces.
Russia’s adoption of crypto
Amid a global push for Bitcoin adoption, Anton Tkachev, a State Duma deputy from the New People’s Party, formally proposed establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve in Russia in December. At the same time, domestic companies have already started using Bitcoin and other digital assets for international payments, which is made possible by recent legislative adjustments intended to compensate for Western sanctions.
The moves align with President Vladimir Putin’s earlier statement, in which he highlighted Bitcoin’s resistance to global regulation and indicated his support for cryptocurrencies, linking the rise of the asset class to the decline of the role of the US dollar. as a reserve currency due to its political use.
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