Russian Diamond Miner Sentenced for Transmitting Cryptocurrency to Ukrainian Armed Forces

A worker from a Russian diamond mining agency has been sentenced to prison for transferring cryptocurrency to the Ukrainian military.

According to the Russian publication Izvestia, the individual, whose identity remains undisclosed, has been sent to a maximum-security penal colony for “providing financial assistance to a Ukrainian terrorist organization.”

Transferring Cryptocurrency to Ukrainian Military: Russians Encounter Severe Prison Sentences

The individual is a male inhabitant of the Mirninsky District in Yakutia (the Republic of Sakha, located in Russia’s Far East).

He was apprehended by the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Republic of Sakha.

The FSB indicated that the individual was an “employee of a diamond mining company.” The agency noted that he was born in 1988.

The individual “repeatedly sent funds to Ukrainian militants using cryptocurrency,” according to the FSB.

Russian FSB officers detain a person charged with sending funds to the ‘digital wallets’ of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. (Source: FSB/Izvestia/Screenshot)

Convict ‘Endangered Russian Security’ – FSB

The spokesperson for the security service stated that the “offender” provided “financial support to a specific unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

The spokesperson mentioned that the unit utilized the funds to “carry out reconnaissance and subversive operations against the security of the Russian Federation.”

Furthermore, the FSB asserted that the individual “joined the terrorist group” after engaging with unit members “on a social networking platform.”

Here, he “received instructions from Ukrainian officials” on “how to transfer funds to a cryptocurrency wallet.”

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The FSB announced that it had initiated a criminal case against the individual under Article 275 of the Russian criminal code.

This article pertains to “high treason in the form of providing financial assistance to a foreign state, international, or foreign organization or their representatives” in “activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation.”

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Crackdown on Donations

This case follows closely on the heels of another similar arrest earlier this month. FSB officials reported the apprehension of an individual in Yenakiieve (known in Russian as Yenakiyevo), in what Russia refers to as the Donetsk People’s Republic on January 10.

The FSB also detained this man on suspicion of treason. The accused “repeatedly transferred funds to digital wallets” used to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the FSB stated.

Russian FSB officers detain a person charged with sending funds to the ‘digital wallets’ of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. (Source: FSB/Izvestia/Screenshot)

The FSB has previously convicted several individuals on similar “high treason” charges related to cryptocurrency.

In each instance, the agency reported that suspects utilized cryptocurrency to transfer funds. Convicted “offenders” include a scientist based in Moscow and two residents from the Far Eastern region of Khabarovsk Krai.

At the onset of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, several prominent donors contributed funds to the Ukrainian military through official cryptocurrency donation platforms.

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