The United Kingdom announced a new package of sanctions Tuesday targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and a Kremlin-backed shadow finance network known as A7 as part of an effort to close off payment routes used by Russia to sustain its war against Ukraine. 

The 18 designations, which came into force immediately, were announced by the Foreign Office and target what the government described as illicit financial infrastructure used to move funds, procure goods, and circumvent existing Western restrictions. The Moscow-backed A7 network moved more than $90 billion last year, a sum roughly equal to half of Russia’s annual military expenditure, UK officials said. 

The Foreign Office also designated Huobi Global S.A., better known as HTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms. British officials said HTX provided financial services to two entities previously sanctioned by U.S. authorities: the A7 network and Garantex, a Moscow-based crypto exchange. HTX processed over $3 trillion in crypto transactions last year, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. 

Tuesday’s package also targets key A7-linked individuals, a Kyrgyz bank suspected of facilitating payments for the network, and three Georgian companies operating Russia-focused exchanges. The announcement framed the action as part of an adaptive strategy to stay ahead of Russian evasion tactics. Russia this month cut its economic growth forecast for 2026 from 1.3 percent to 0.4 percent and halved its projection for 2027, which the UK cited as evidence that cumulative pressure is taking hold.

“If the Kremlin thinks it can evade our sanctions by hiding behind crypto networks and shadow financial systems, it is gravely mistaken,” Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in the announcement. “We are tracking down and shutting off the financial lifelines that sustain Putin’s war machine. There will be no safe havens for those enabling Russia’s aggression.”

Some of the Tuesday’s designees are no strangers to scandal. The A7 network, for example, emerged in part as a workaround for the exclusion of major Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT interbank messaging system. 

Launched in late 2024 by state-owned defense-sector bank Promsvyazbank and Ilan Șor, a Moldovan oligarch convicted over a $1 billion bank theft, A7 had begun issuing colorful banknotes that function similarly to bearer shares, with face values of up to $5,000. The notes can be redeemed for rubles at A7 offices inside Russia, for foreign currency via in-person drops in Dubai and Istanbul, or for A7A5, a ruble-pegged stablecoin the network created with Promsvyazbank. 

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic estimated that roughly 2,300 notes had been redeemed for the stablecoin, with a total value of approximately $8.6 million.

Justin Sun, the owner of HTX, had until recently been a prominent financial backer of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s flagship crypto venture, spending $75 million on the company’s token, according to the WSJ. HTX was also the first major platform to offer World Liberty’s stablecoin to clients. The relationship soured this year when Sun filed a lawsuit against World Liberty accusing the venture of criminal extortion over his refusal to invest additional funds. World Liberty subsequently filed its own suit against Sun. Both cases are pending, the WSJ reported.

To date, the UK has sanctioned more than 3,300 individuals, businesses, and ships. The government estimated Russia has lost over $450 billion as a result of international sanctions, or roughly the equivalent to four years of funding for its war against Ukraine.