Russia to Help Citizens Circumvent EU Crypto Sanctions, State Secretary Calls It ‘Digital Fascism’

• Russian anti-money laundering watchdog Rosfinmonitoring’s deputy director called out the EU for its cross-border crypto sanctions.
• According to the deputy director, Moscow is ready to help users using crypto and the digital ruble.
• Many major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Kraken, have also restricted Russian users on their platformpp.

Russia began its war against Ukraine eight months ago, and the global political and economic conflict it created continues to this day. The country is facing the consequences of its actions as sanctions after sanctions have left Russia in dire need of aid. The help can most likely come from Moscow itself.

Russia calls the EU’s decision “fascist”

Earlier this month, the EU pulled the final straw in weakening Russia’s economic condition when it imposed a blanket ban on any crypto transaction between EU-regulated companies and Russian users. As part of its eight-sanctions package, the crypto transaction ban caused anger among Russian authorities.

As reported by Ivestia, the country’s foreign minister and the deputy director of Rosfin monitoring, Herman Negliad, reacted to the EU sanctions. Calling the decision an example of “digital fascism”, Negliad, who heads the country’s anti-money laundering regulator, said Russia would circumvent those sanctions.

Negliad stated that Russia is working to give businesses the ability to make cross-border payments. This will be achieved with the help of Moscow, which is willing to provide Russian users with all the help needed. This will include the use of cryptocurrency, the digital ruble and or a hybrid of these methods.

But beyond the government, even crypto exchanges are firing back.

Kraken gets up

Following the blanket ban, exchanges including Crypto.com and LocalBitcoins ended all services for their Russian users. The latest exchange to join them was Kraken, which announced the suspension of services for its entire Russian clientele on October 19.

This was a surprise since earlier this year Kraken CEO and co-founder Jesse Powell was noted as saying the exchange would not completely ban Russian users. Powell stated in an interview with CNBC,

“It’s a pretty extreme measure and it goes far beyond turning off someone’s access to their music streaming service, or their photo sharing app. Shutting down someone’s financial access is something we take very seriously.”

However, Kraken CEO Powell said that if the US State Department ordered Kraken to ban Russian users, it would oblige, and the recent sanctions may have been that trigger.