A Russian IT specialist, Yuri Belenkiy, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for financing terrorism after Binance provided transaction details to Russian authorities. The 2nd Western District Military Court convicted the 49-year-old, who holds a Bulgarian residence permit, and sentenced him to three years in prison followed by 10 years in a strict-regime penal colony.
Belenkiy was detained in September last year during a visit to Moscow and has been in custody since. He denied the charges, according to the court. The prosecution alleged that Belenkiy transferred over $700 from his Binance accounts to Ukrainian military fundraising campaigns, including donations to the Azov Brigade, a group heavily criticized by Moscow.
Binance complied with a Russian request for Belenkiy's transaction history, which included records of transfers to Ukrainian causes. The exchange stated that it does not make or enforce laws but referred to a previous statement emphasizing its neutrality in legal proceedings. A crypto regulation specialist, Mike Bystrov, noted that Binance had no obligation to provide the data and might have had EU data-protection obligations not to do so due to Belenkiy's Bulgarian residency.
Rights advocates report that dozens of Russians have been convicted in recent years for cryptocurrency donations to causes later classified as extremist or terrorist. Many believed cryptocurrency would protect their identities, but Binance's cooperation with Russian investigators played a key role in Belenkiy's prosecution.