Binance blocked accounts of family members of Russian officials

The cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance continues to adopt additional measures so that the Russian government cannot avoid the impact of the sanctions imposed through the use of cryptocurrencies. In this connection, it has blocked different accounts of the relatives of high-ranking Kremlin officials in recent years. two months.

According to a report published by the exchange, among the users affected by the measure are: Elizaveta Peskova, daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, and Polina Kovaleva, stepdaughter of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The exchange house also reported that it blocked the account of Kirill Malofeyev, son of Konstantin Malofeyev, a millionaire of Russian nationality who was also accused of violating the sanctions imposed by the United States on the government led by Vladimir Putin.

Chagri Poyraz, Binance’s global head of sanctions, noted that the company blocked Peskov “when he tried to use the exchange through a third-party broker,” the official later expressed his displeasure stating that such actions were “totally unfair and unfounded.”

Binance conducts proactive surveillance

For the head of sanctions of the exchange house, the company will continue to monitor its platform in order to identify people associated with Russian officials or personalities who can use the services of the organization to evade the sanctions imposed.

In Poyraz’s opinion, the company applies different monitoring mechanisms so that “compliance control operations are proactive, with the aim of detecting and dissuading the risk of financial crime before any regulatory or legal action towards these people or entities”.

As will be remembered on April 21, Binance adopted a series of restrictive measures to prevent Russian citizens from evading sanctions. Among the measures taken, the limits established for operations of a maximum of 10,000 euros or 10,800 dollars in each account stand out.

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, warned that the company “will comply with the sanctions, but will not unilaterally freeze the accounts of millions of innocent users” as a consequence of the sanctions established by the Westerners against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

The report published by the exchange house also refers to the links that the relatives of the high-ranking officials have with the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, despite the prohibition that exists in Russian law for those officials, their spouses and minor children to invest in this type of asset.

M. Rodríguez

Source: en.cointelegraph.com