The European Union (EU) has extended sanctions against Russia to include four designations linked to the A7 cross-border network, including its new routes to Africa.
The EU is also extending its transaction ban to 14 crypto-related anonymous service platforms based in Georgia, Panama, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus.
Chainalysis recently noted that the A7 network, where the A7A5 stablecoin operates, has processed nearly $120 billion to date and was deliberately built to allow Russia to evade sanctions.
“We are affecting more than a hundred banks and crypto operators, more than 40 ships of the Russian ghost fleet and several oil refineries in Russia and Belarus,” Kaja Kallas, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and President of the Foreign Affairs Council, said in a statement.
The EU announced its previous package of sanctions against Russia in April, saying it was the “biggest package of sanctions” against the country in two years. In this statement, the EU said that “Russia is increasingly dependent on cryptocurrencies for international transactions.”
