The United Kingdom has significantly expanded its sanctions against Russia's financial infrastructure, targeting three cryptocurrency exchanges, two payment platforms, and one individual in an October 8, 2026 package of 38 designations. According to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the measures target financial businesses suspected of helping Russia bypass sanctions, with two of the platforms having processed or facilitated transactions with A7, a Kremlin-backed financial network. The sanctions include Xeltox Enterprises, the Canadian-registered company behind crypto exchanges Cryptomus, Heleket and Certa Payments, alongside Kyrgyzstan-based TokenSpot. The UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation explicitly includes cryptoassets within the assets covered by financial sanctions, with restrictions applying to UK territory and British nationals globally. Under the UK designations, assets held by the named entities in the country are frozen, and British financial institutions are barred from processing payments to, from or through several of the firms. The sanctions require UK persons to freeze funds and economic resources owned or controlled by designated individuals and entities, while internet service restrictions apply to several payment platforms, requiring social media providers and internet access companies to prevent UK users from accessing the designated entities' online content.
Japan has significantly expanded its sanctions against Russia, adding 33 entities to a new asset-freeze list on October 2, 2026, alongside nine individuals and restrictions covering 35 vessels. According to a joint statement from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the measures were introduced under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act following a Cabinet decision on sanctions connected to Russia and the war in Ukraine. The updated sanctions list also includes one Turkish company and three firms based in the United Arab Emirates, demonstrating Japan's broadened approach to targeting entities involved in the ongoing conflict. The 35 vessels are subject to service and financing restrictions where providing services specified by Japan's Ministry of Finance now requires permission, with existing vessel contracts receiving limited relief only until November 1, 2026.
According to a October 8 TRM Labs report, the UK sanctions cover cryptocurrency exchanges and payment companies suspected of helping Russia bypass financial sanctions, including platforms connected to the Kremlin-backed A7 financial network. TRM Labs found that Cryptomus and Heleket shared operational infrastructure, personnel, branding and liquidity sources with high confidence, with both services processing transactions involving sanctioned exchanges. Heleket began operating in January 2025, shortly before Cryptomus introduced mandatory know your customer checks in February, and subsequently recorded a decline in monthly onchain transaction volume from $153 million in January to $86 million in March, while Heleket's activity grew. Both services used a 0.4% processing fee and shared unusual wording across their websites, with investigators identifying Garantex as an early liquidity provider to both platforms. During 2025, illicit transactions accounted for 0.6% of Heleket's incoming volume, nearly five times the average observed among payment service providers, with sanctions-related entities representing 60% of those illicit inflows. By April 2026, Cryptomus had received $1.86 billion and sent $1.63 billion in onchain transactions, with Garantex accounting for more than $204 million received and $101 million sent to the exchange.
TokenSpot's designation followed an October 6 investigation that connected the Kyrgyzstan-based exchange to Grinex, which TRM identified as a likely successor to Garantex. Investigators assessed with high confidence that TokenSpot operated as a front company for Grinex after finding shared cryptocurrency wallets and coordinated exchange activity. Between December 8, 2023, and September 27, 2026, TokenSpot's TRON addresses received $3.54 billion and sent $3.14 billion. The A7 network was TokenSpot's largest external counterparty, with TokenSpot transferring $679.5 million to A7 and receiving $48.5 million in return, while another $26.5 million went directly to the A7A5 token. After the UK sanctioned Garantex and Grinex, TokenSpot sent $269.2 million to the two exchanges and received $285.7 million from them. TRM calculated that TokenSpot had transferred more than $950 million combined to A7, Garantex and Grinex. In April 2026, Grinex suspended trading after reporting the theft of approximately $13.7 million from 54 cryptocurrency wallets, describing the incident as a sophisticated cyberattack with access to resources associated with foreign intelligence agencies.
European authorities adopted their own restrictions on July 23, 2026, when the Council of the European Union approved its 21st sanctions package against Russia, adding 218 listings comprising 48 individuals and 170 entities, its largest batch of new individual listings in four years. The package extended transaction bans to 14 crypto-related platforms operating in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, including HTX, BitPapa, EXMO, Rapira, A7 Africa and A7 Nigeria. The EU introduced a mechanism allowing restrictions on crypto services in third countries when authorities determine that providers are helping Russia evade sanctions. The U.S. Treasury's October 1, 2026 action designated A7 as a transnational criminal organization under Operation Economic Outcast, with FinCEN proposing restrictions on transfers involving companies acting as its overseas payment agents. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that illicit-finance facilitators could "lose access to the U.S. financial system," while the proposed FinCEN measure covers conventional funds and convertible virtual currency with a 30-day public comment period after publication in the Federal Register.
Beyond financial services, the UK's October 8 package designated Russian oil companies Zarubezhneft and INK Capital, with British sanctions now covering more than 90% of Russia's total oil production capacity. The announcement also designated 12 additional tankers accused of operating within Russia's shadow fleet, taking Britain's sanctioned vessel count above 600. For military supply chains, the department listed 17 entities and individuals involved in goods classified by the UK, U.S. and EU as important to Russia's war effort, including Russian importers of machine tools, electronics, and materials used in ballistic missile and drone production. The measures represent coordinated international action against Russia's financial infrastructure, with the UK, U.S., and EU all targeting different aspects of the country's economic capabilities.
