Binance Blocks Accounts Linked to Relatives of Senior Russian Officials

Exchange of digital assets Binance has suspended accounts associated with relatives of Russian government officials. In the face of escalating international sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the trading platform has stated that it will continue to screen for users affiliated with sanctioned people.

According to Bloomberg, Binance, the world's top cryptocurrency exchange and the trading place of top cryptos including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Quint, has blocked multiple accounts tied to relatives of high-ranking members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's government. The action comes as sanctions against Russia continue to fall in response to its armed invasion on neighboring Ukraine.

Polina Kovaleva, the stepdaughter of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Elizaveta Peskova, the daughter of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, are among those who have been denied admission in the two months since Russian forces crossed the Ukrainian border.

Kirill Malofeev, the son of Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, was also barred from using Binance. Washington accuses the latter of aiding pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. Malofeev, who is sanctioned by the United States and the European Union and wanted by Ukrainian authorities for his role in the Donbas conflict, is a Putin admirer.

The announcement of the closed accounts comes after Binance curtailed services to Russian customers earlier this month in order to comply with the latest round of sanctions issued by the European Union. The limits apply to Russian nationals, residents, and legal entities with crypto assets worth more than €10,000 ($10,800) on the site.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated in early March that the exchange was freezing the accounts of sanctioned Russian individuals, but that barring all Russians would be "unethical." Simultaneously, the leadership downplayed worries that cryptocurrency could aid Moscow in evading Western sanctions.

Binance announced on March 3 that it blocked Peskova when she sought to utilize the exchange through a third-party brokerage. The following week, she was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, according to the article.

Kovaleva's account was deactivated on March 24, the day she was sanctioned by the United Kingdom. Malofeev was designated by the US Treasury on April 20 and his Binance accounts were stopped this week, according to the business.

The crypto exchange will continue its efforts to identify other people connected to sanctioned individuals, the platform’s global head of sanctions assured. “What’s different is that our compliance screen operations are ‘proactive,’ aiming to detect and deter financial crime risk before any regulatory or legal action towards these individuals or entities,” Chagri Poyraz has been quoted as stating.