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EU sanctions crypto network
The European Union adopted its 21st sanctions package against Russia on July 23, 2026, extending transaction bans to 14 crypto-related service platforms and adding four designations tied to the cross-border A7 network.
The package covers 218 new listings, made up of 170 entities and 48 individuals, and it also includes asset freezes and a ban on making funds available to 94 banks and major financial institutions.
Kaja Kallas, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and chair of the Foreign Affairs Council, said the EU is "hitting over a hundred banks and crypto operators" as it targets the A7A5 stablecoin network.
The EU also extended its transaction ban to 33 additional Russian credit and financial institutions and imposed a transaction ban on a Kyrgyz bank linked to the SPFS financial messaging system plus three other non-Russian banks accused of helping bypass sanctions.
Third-country ban power
Beyond targeting named platforms, the Council of the EU created for the first time an option of a full third-country ban on crypto-asset services, described as a deterrent to countries hosting platforms that assist Russia in avoiding EU sanctions.
The European Commission framed the intent as "a strong deterrent to countries hosting platforms that help Russia evade EU sanctions," and the provision would let the EU ban any transaction between an EU operator and a crypto provider used by Russia.
The designated platforms sit outside the EU in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus, and the measures reach the infrastructure wherever it operates.
TRM Labs also said the package’s reach works at a different level than earlier rounds, because it lets the EU cut off crypto asset services tied to an entire jurisdiction found to host platforms that serve Russia.
A7A5 scale and enforcement
The EU’s crypto measures focus on the A7 network and its ruble-backed A7A5 stablecoin, which Coin Academy says processed nearly $120 billion to date and was designed specifically to allow Russia to circumvent Western sanctions.
Coin Academy also said the EU’s legal innovation would allow Brussels to prohibit any transaction between an EU operator and any crypto provider used by Russia, regardless of where that provider is registered.
In parallel, The Insider reported that the EU added A7A5 project head Leonid Shumakov and Promsvyazbank chairman Mikhail Dorofeev to its lists, along with companies A7 Agent and A71.
The Insider further described the A7 payment network as created in late 2024 by Promsvyazbank and fugitive Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor, and it said researchers found A7 job listings for work in Togo and located the website of A7’s Nigerian branch while establishing that the network was preparing to operate in Zimbabwe.
