Sanctions Evasion

Russian diamonds may be entering Australia through intermediaries and processing hubs despite sanctions on Moscow’s state-owned diamond giant Alrosa.

The UK unveiled its biggest Russia sanctions package in years on Tuesday, targeting Moscow’s shadow fleet and the key networks and infrastructure that have helped keep crude exports flowing since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Blockchain forensics firm Elliptic has identified four cryptocurrency exchanges that allegedly facilitate Russia sanctions evasion, including by helping to convert rubles into crypto-assets and move value across borders without the direct aid of traditional banking channels. 

Binance internal investigators found last year that about $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency flowed from two accounts on the exchange to Iranian entities with links to terrorist groups, raising potential violations of global sanctions.

Iran has agreed to a €500-million contract with Russia for thousands of shoulder-fired air-defense missiles, in a deal that underscores both countries’ willingness to deepen military trade despite intensifying western sanctions and arms-export restrictions.

A blacklisted, former Belarusian official is working with Russia to disguise the origin of agricultural products from Ukraine’s occupied territories, according to new reporting by Ukrinform. The news agency, which is Ukraine’s only national news service and is controlled by the country’s Cabinet of Ministers, said it based its reporting on documents obtained by the Belarusian opposition group […]

An IT misconfiguration has exposed an apparent network of oil traders that has helped move at least $90 billion of Russian crude and has become central to keeping export revenues flowing to the Kremlin, the Financial Times reported Friday. 

Asian trading networks continue to route European-made dual-use technology into Russia’s war economy, exploiting gaps in the continent’s sanctions designations and enforcement, according to new research published by the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation.

Russia is exploiting a network of front companies, influence agents, and third-country logistics routes to obtain German-made components needed for its attack drones and missiles.

Stablecoins have become both core crypto “plumbing” and a key rail for the most consequential forms of crypto-enabled crime, with illicit activity increasingly concentrated in a handful of large, sanctions-linked networks.