The European Council has sanctioned Moscow-based cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, with the measure coming as part of the EU’s 16th package of sanctions against Russia.
As outlined in its implementation notice, the EU is sanctioning Garantex because the exchange “is associated with Sberbank, T-Bank and Alfa-Bank”—all of which have been subject to EU sanctions since 2014.
The notice states that customers of these three sanctioned banks “can gain access to the global financial system via Garantex, as roubles from bank accounts are exchanged into cryptocurrency and subsequently cryptocurrency is exchanged into other currencies.”
Announcing the latest sanctions, Kaja Kallas—the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy—emphasized that they were intended in part to mark the three-year anniversary of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
“This new round of sanctions not only targets the Russian shadow fleet but those who support the operation of unsafe oil tankers, video game controllers used to pilot drones, banks used to circumvent our sanctions, and propaganda outlets used to spout lies,” she said.
The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Garantex in 2022 and
