A Russian IT specialist has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for donating cryptocurrency to Ukrainian military campaigns. The 2nd Western District Military Court convicted 49-year-old Yuri Belenkiy on Monday, imposing a three-year prison term followed by 10 years in a strict-regime penal colony. He was also fined 500,000 roubles ($6,300).
Belenkiy, a former IT director of DiHouse, made 15 cryptocurrency transfers worth over 120,000 roubles ($1,500) between August 2022 and March 2024 to support Ukraine’s armed forces and the Azov battalion, which Russia designates a “terrorist” organisation. The donations were facilitated using payment details shared by exiled Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko.
The prosecution’s case relied heavily on transaction data provided by the cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Russian law enforcement documents seen by Reuters confirmed that Binance shared Belenkiy’s transaction history in response to a legal request. Binance, however, stated that it does not comment on confidential law enforcement requests or individual cases.
Defence lawyers questioned the authenticity of the data, arguing that Binance had not cooperated with Russian authorities since 2022. They also noted that Binance’s withdrawal from the Russian market in 2023 might have placed the exchange under European Union data protection obligations, potentially prohibiting the sharing of Belenkiy’s data.