A Russian citizen of Yakutia has been sentenced to seven years in prison for financing the Ukrainian Armed Forces by sending cryptocurrencies to his account.
According to Russian media Izvestiathe man is currently being held in a high security facility to provide financial assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine or AFU. This marks the first public verdict in Russian court involving the use of cryptocurrency to finance an opposing military organization.
“A criminal case under Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was opened and investigated against a resident born in 1988,” the FSB Directorate for the Republic of Sakha said in a press statement.
The man is accused of “high treason in the form of providing financial assistance to a foreign state, an international or foreign organization” which is considered to be against the security of the Russian government.
The identity of the Russian man remains unknown, but he is said to be a resident of the Sakha Republic – also known as Yakutia – who works for a diamond mining company. According to information from the press conference held by the FSB Directorate, the man joined a group on social media that connects him with members of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Through the group, he received instructions on how to transfer funds through a crypto wallet to help finance the AFU which the Russian Federation considers a “terrorist organization.”
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine has continued to receive millions in donations in the form of cryptocurrency. Throughout 2024, Ukraine recorded an increase of more than 362% in decentralized financial transactions that exceeded $10 million in October.
In fact, last December, Ukraine announced the projects to legalize crypto in early 2025. In any case, the proposed law is said to treat cryptocurrencies as securities, meaning that it will still be taxed once converted into traditional currency. The government has said that it will not use tax exemptions to prevent abuse, as it continues to consult experts and the IMF on the matter.
Also, the Ukrainian government too would like to sanction the use of Bitcoin by Russia (BTC) to make international payments after Russia’s finance minister said the nation used crypto to circumvent Western sanctions.
