Binance Bans Accounts of Relatives of Russian Officials

• Binance banned accounts of the Russian President’s spokesman daughter, stepdaughter of Foreign Minister, and son of a Russian oligarch.
• The 24-year-old daughter of the Russian President’s spokesman said the sanctions were “totally unfair and unfounded.”
• Her account was shut down after she attempted to use Binance via third-party brokerage.

Binance finally banned accounts connected to relatives of senior Kremlin officials. This is in line with the past two months of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

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Users who suffered the ban included Elizaveta Peskova, daughter of Russian President’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, and Polina Kovaleva, the stepdaughter of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. In addition, Binance also shut down the account of Kirill Malofeyev, the son of Konstantin Malofeyev. The latter is a Russian oligarch recently charged with violating US sanctions.

Chagri Poyraz, Binance’s head of sanctions, shared his pride in his company on LinkedIn. He disclosed that Peskova’s account closed on March 3 after she attempted to use Binance via a third-party. The US Treasury Department branded her as a member of Kremlin elites, leaders, oligarchs, and families who support Putin.

“I was really surprised because it’s weird introducing sanctions on someone who is 24 years old and has nothing to do with the situation,” Peskova reacted. She emphasized that such measures were “totally unfair and unfounded.”

Poyraz said Binance will remain to keep an eye on sanctioned individuals. He further explained:

“What’s different is that our compliance screen operations are ‘proactive,’ aiming to detect and deter financial crime risk before any regulatory or legal action towards these individuals or entities.”

Binance was not the only crypto exchange platform to ban Russian accounts. Recently, Belarusian crypto exchange Currency.com stopped its operations for the entire Russian residents. Meanwhile, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said they will not ban all Russian accounts. This is because according to him, it’s “illegal to freeze assets of normal Russian users.”

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