The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has added two cryptocurrency wallets allegedly connected to a Russian sanctions evasion network to its list of Specially Designated Nationals.
In a Feb. 1 announcement, OFAC said it had added a Bitcoin (BTC) address and an Ether (ETH) address to its list of sanctioned entities as part of a move to “methodically and aggressively target sanctions evasion efforts.” Worldwide.” The Treasury said it would place “full lockdown sanctions” on 22 individuals, including Jonatan Zimenkov, a Russian citizen with access to at least one BTC wallet and one ETH wallet.
According to the US Treasury, Jonatan is the son of arms dealer Igor Vladimirovich Zimenkov, who runs the sanctions evasion network. The group was allegedly behind the supply of technology to a Russian company following the country’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as well as supporting certain “state-owned and sanctioned Russian defense entities”, including Rosoboroneksport and Rostec.
“Igor Zimenkov was designated pursuant to OE 14024 for operating or having operated in the defense and related materiel sector of the economy of the Russian Federation,” OFAC said. “Jonatan Zimenkov was also designated under EO 14024 for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support, or goods or services to or in support of Igor Zimenkov.”
Treasury is taking more action as part of the US strategy to methodically & intensively target Russia’s sanctions evasion efforts around the globe, and to make it harder & costlier for Russia’s military-industrial complex to re-supply Putin’s war machine.https://t .co/q7a6DIxhZg
—Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo (@TreasuryDepSec) February 1, 2023
Treasury is taking further action as part of the US strategy to methodically and aggressively attack Russia’s sanctions evasion efforts around the world, and to make it more difficult and costly for Russia’s military-industrial complex to resupply the machinery. of Putin’s war
The BTC address provided by the Treasury showed no balance at the time of publication. The ETH address also contained no tokens, but showed four transactions totaling approximately 5,463 ETH in early 2022, more than $16 million at the time.
The US Treasury appears to have intensified its efforts to include crypto wallets in its sanctions. The government department effectively banned US residents from using the controversial Tornado Cash mixer, an action that later sparked lawsuits from cryptocurrency advocacy groups and investors.
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