Russian crypto criminals helped UK drug gangs launder lockdown cash

Wednesday’s US sanctions are the final stage in exposing the network, by targeting the people at the top.

The US office of Foreign Asset Control said it had sanctioned the head of TGR, Russia-born Ukrainian national George Rossi, also known as Georgy, and his second in command, Elena Chirkinyan, a Russian national.

Rossi has presented himself as being a legitimate businessman based in London, but his whereabouts are unclear.

Ekaterina Zhdanova, the head of Smart, has also been named as being at the heart of the operation. She was orginally sanctioned by the US authorities in November 2023, for allegedly moving money for Russian elites.

The US Treasury says the Russian citizen and other members of the TGR network used cryptocurrency and British financial services to move £2m into the UK to buy property for a Russian, who has not been publicly named. The NCA has not revealed whether it has taken action to seize that property.

However, her alleged role in assisting sanctioned individuals is just one part of what the NCA says are her links to Moscow.

Investigators say that, in 2022, the Russian state used the Smart and TGR crypto-exchange services to move funds for espionage.

Then, in 2023, the NCA says the scheme helped the state-controlled Russia Today media platform, banned in the UK, move cash into the country for one of its operations.