Russia: High Treason Wrap for Man Who ‘Sent Crypto to Ukraine Military’

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked…

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Last updated:

September 18, 2024 23:00 EDT

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Russia’s top intelligence agency has accused another citizen of “high treason,” claiming that he used crypto to send funds to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Per the newspaper Izvestia, the Federal Security Service (FSB)’s Khabarovsk Krai branch arrested an unnamed man on the street in Komsomolsk-on-Amur this week.

FSB officers say the man sent an unspecified amount of crypto to wallets controlled by the Ukrainian military.

Russia: High Treason Wrap for Crypto Donor?

The FSB’s regional office released a video showing agents in military camouflage and balaclavas arresting the man on a quiet street.

The officers then forced the man into an unmarked van and took him to the agency’s local station. The video then shows an FSB agent interviewing the man.

The suspect’s face is blurred in the video, and the agents’ voices are disguised.

“We have stopped the illegal activity of a resident of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. He was involved in committing high treason by providing financial assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation.”

FSB, Khabarovsk Krai branch

Komsomolsk-on-Amur, a city in Khabarovsk Krai, is located on the bank of the River Amur in Russia’s Far East.

FSB: Man Sent Personal Funds to Kyiv

The FSB said they had detained the man. And they explained that the man “used cryptocurrency to transfer” his own “personal funds” to Kyiv.

The agency claimed that the Ukrainian military used the man’s donations to “purchase weapons, ammunition, and uniforms” for Ukrainian soldiers.

Officers said they were set to charge the man with breaches of Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code: “high treason.”

Earlier this month, a court in Moscow sentenced the physicist Alexander Shiplyuk to 15 years in jail after finding him guilty of similar charges.

The FSB said Shiplyuk “regularly” sent crypto donations to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Agents also said Shiplyuk helped launch cyberattacks against Russian government websites.

Crypto Donation Crackdown?

Late last year, the FSB also arrested another Khabarovsk Krai resident – originally from Vinnytsia in Ukraine – on similar crypto donation-related charges.

The latest arrest comes just a day after officers detained an unnamed resident of the Russian-controlled city of Mariupol.

The FSB has also charged this person with treason, claiming they “collected and transmitted information to the Ukrainian special services.”

They say the suspect told Ukrainian military officers about “the locations of Russian armed forces units.”

The suspect allegedly handed over the information hoping that this would help Ukrainian artillery batteries launch “fire attacks” on the Russian units.