cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10779182

Binance last year handed Russian authorities details of cryptocurrency donations to Ukrainian fundraising campaigns that were used as evidence to bring terrorism financing charges against a Russian IT specialist, law enforcement documents show.

While it is normal for companies like Binance to comply when law enforcement agencies in countries where they operate make legitimate requests to see client information, the world’s largest crypto exchange said in 2023 it had fully exited Russia.

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Many Russian citizens have in the past few years used such exchanges to support causes that Moscow subsequently labelled extremist or terrorist. Several dozen people who made ​such donations have been prosecuted and convicted in Russia, rights activists who track the cases said.

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Russia’s Investigative Committee, which handles serious criminal cases, alleged in October that IT specialist Yuri Belenkiy, who was detained in ‌September 2025, sent more than $700 to the Ukrainian military and an associated group, known at different times as the Azov Brigade and the Azov Regiment, which Moscow designates as a terrorist organisation.

Binance was under no obligation to provide the data, having quit Russia, and may in fact have had an obligation not to provide it under European Union data protection law, said Mike Bystrov, founder of law firm Stellar Consulting that advises on crypto regulation.

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The documents seen by ⁠Reuters only relate to Belenkiy’s case, and Reuters could not determine if any other people who made donations via crypto have been drawn into the Russian law enforcement investigation, or if Binance had identified other users to Russian law enforcement.

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The First Corps Azov of the Ukrainian National Guard said it does not ​disclose donors’ names.

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Reuters previously reported that Binance’s regional boss had in 2021 met officials from Russia’s financial monitoring agency who wanted help identifying customers who made bitcoin donations to Alexei Navalny.

At the time, Binance told Reuters it had never been contacted by Russian Authorities regarding the anti-Kremlin campaigner, who died ​in an Arctic penal colony in 2024.

In the wake of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Western sanctions imposed on Moscow in response, Binance said it was selling its entire Russian business.

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The documents seen by Reuters show Russian law enforcement officials sent a request to Binance for Belenkiy’s transaction history, and Binance responded by sending details showing crypto transfers to the Ukrainian organisations.

Details of Belenkiy’s transactions via Binance were incorporated as evidence in the case against him, one document showed. An interim outline of the case sent to the offices of ​the Russian prosecutor-general cites the transactions as grounds for the terrorism financing charges.

Binance declined to comment on details of Belenkiy’s case.

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After the Russian investigators sought Binance’s cooperation, they received two replies from an email address case@binanceholdings./ru, the documents show. Reuters found a post on Binance’s website advising Russian and Belarusian law enforcement agencies to use this address to contact the company.

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Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume. It was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao in China.

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