UK goes after Kyrgyz financial institutions that assist Russia in by passing Western sanctions

The UK has adopted new sanctions in an effort to counter Russia’s attempts to circumvent around the limitations by exploiting Kyrgyz financial systems and crypto networks.

As a result, the UK government has published a list of eight targets that have been added to the government’s existing sanctions list, Caliber.Az reports, which already featured over 2700 restrictions against Russia.

Among the new additions is the Kyrgyzstan-based Capital Bank (Capital Bank of Central Asia), and its director Kantemir Chalbayev which is being accused by the UK of being used by Russia to pay for military goods.

The Grinex and Meer cryptocurrency exchanges have also been included in the latest measures. The UK’s statement on the sanctions states that the two exchanges are involved in the infrastructure behind a new rouble-backed cryptocurrency token A7A5, “which has moved $9.3bn on a dedicated crypto exchange in just four months and is specifically designed as an attempt to evade western sanctions.”

The UK’s Sanctions Minister Stephen Doughty commented on the announcement by calling Moscow out: “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. […] 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.”

The other Kyrgyz targets of the UK’s latest measurement include “CJSC TENGRICOIN”, “OLD VECTOR LLC”, “ALTAIR HOLDING SA” as well as individuals Leonid Shumakov and Zhanyshbek Uulu Nazarbek.

By Nazrin Sadigova