$4M in crypto sent to pro-Russia military in Ukraine

Messages on Telegram showed public posts confirming the funds will support "weaponized drones, body armor and rifles".

At least $4m in cryptocurrency has been sent to groups in support of Russia’s military in Ukraine.

Blockchain investigators and researchers have traced millions of dollars sent over to sanctioned paramilitary groups.

Separate findings were uncovered by investigators at crypto exchange Binance, crypto trading firms Elliptic and TRM Labs, and blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.

Binance showed funds had been sent to the military totalling a value of $4.2m since February.

Chainalysis found that $1.8m was sent to the militias over the past two months, and in the five months before that, the pro-Russia groups received $2.2m.

The findings between both Binance and Chainalysis are said to have not entirely overlapped.

Former deputy of Ukraine’s Cyber Police Serhii Kropyva said: “With the close cooperation of companies like Chainalysis and Binance, we can see all the wallets involved in this criminal activity. But we can, unfortunately, see that the transfer is continuing all the time.”

Public posts on the direct and encrypted messaging app Telegram declared funds will be used to support the purchases of “weaponized drones to radios, rifle accessories, and body armor”.

Due to unregulated or sanctioned cryptocurrency exchanges in Russia, tracing the funds and stopping the transfers has proven difficult.

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Written by Isabella Aslam

Reporter

Isabella is an experienced writer in B2B and B2C journalism. Alongside crypto, Isabella writes and discusses the topics of relationships and psychology. Isabella holds a first-class degree in music journalism and often interviews electronic artists and DJs.

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