As announced, Binance has closed user accounts linked to the Russian government, to comply with sanctions imposed by the European Union in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Binance blocks those close to the Russian government
The announcement was made on Thursday 28 April 2022. Binance has closed several user accounts associated with people close to Russian officials. This news is part of a broader framework of sanctions directly targeting Russia since the start of the war with Ukraine.
While several accounts were closed at the beginning of March, a new wave of closures was carried out this week. It concerns in particular the son of Konstantin Malofeev, a Russian oligarch who has been indicted by the US Department of Justice for violating US sanctions.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, welcomed the news in a tweet today, saying that “everyone connected to Putin’s regime will feel the consequences of the war. “
I’ve mentioned already that everyone connected with putin’s regime will feel the consequences of war. So, news from @binance: company blocked cryptocurrency accounts of Kremlin’s officials relatives. Ms. Kovaleva, Ms. Peskova and Mr.Malofeev can’t avoid sanctions anymore.
– Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) April 29, 2022
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by a series of financial sanctions from the European Union and the United States, aimed at restricting the country’s economy and limiting its ability to continue the war. So far, the sanctions do not seem to have deterred President Vladimir Putin.
Binance complies with EU sanctions
Since the start of this Russian-Ukrainian conflict, many political figures have expressed concern about Russia’s ability to escape financial sanctions through cryptocurrencies. This is notably the case of the French Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, who said that he would ensure “that cryptocurrencies are not used to circumvent sanctions”.
In addition, the representatives of Ukraine and the United States had directly requested the exchange platforms to block all users residing in Russia. A request that had been mostly considered ineffective, judging that cryptocurrencies were a very bad way to escape sanctions.
Indeed, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao himself had told CNN that cryptocurrencies are too trackable and that governments are improving their methods of tracking transactions by the day, which would make the Russian strategy completely useless.
However, last week the world’s leading exchange platform did a U-turn. In order to comply with European restrictions, Binance announced that it was firmly blocking the accounts of Russian users with more than €10,000 in their accounts. A news that did not make unanimity in the crypto-community.
