U.K. Adds 350 Sanctions Against Russia

The British government on Tuesday (March 15) added 350 new listings under its slate of Russian sanctions and nine new listings under its ongoing list of cybersecurity sanctions, according to a Reuters report.

Among those in the latest round of sanctions are Andrey Melnichenko, who owned fertilizer producer EuroChem Group and coal company SUEK; Pyotr Aven, an oil investor who built a European business empire with an estimated net worth of $4.7 billion, and Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu.

Related: UK Crime Agency Calls for Tougher Crypto Regulations

Meanwhile, the U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has called for more regulation on cryptocurrency protocols that let digital asset traders mask their transactions, according to published reports Tuesday (March 15).

The NCA wants decentralized mixers including Wasabi Wallet and Tornado Cash to conduct know-your-customer checks and record audit trails of the tokens on their platforms.

Gary Cathcart, head of financial investigations at the NCA, said in a statement that stricter rules would give peace of mind to consumers and let law enforcement get judge-approved court orders for investigations. This would help investigators determine the difference between mixers being used for privacy and for helping mask criminal activity such as ransomware attacks or terrorism.

The NCA didn’t make any reference to Russian sanctions in its statement, but its call for tougher regulations came one day after cryptocurrency forensic firm Elliptic found a digital wallet with millions of dollars in crypto that could be connected to sanctioned oligarchs and government officials.

Also read: European Banks to Isolate Russian FI Computer Networks

On Monday (March 14), Bloomberg reported that European banks with branches in Russia are separating those financial institutions from their computer networks.

Commerzbank AG, one of the largest banks in Germany, will soon suspend its Russian unit from its network, and Deutsche Bank, one of the world’s largest financial service providers also based in Germany, is transferring its tech tasks in Ukraine to other countries.