Russia jails IT worker for 13 years for donating money to Ukraine

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance shared Ukraine donation data with Russian authorities resulting in his conviction.

Binance shared donation records with Russian investigators, according to documents seen by Reuters [File: Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters]

A Russian military court has sentenced an IT specialist to 13 years in prison for financing “terrorism” after the cryptocurrency exchange Binance gave Russian investigators details of his donations to Ukrainian fundraising campaigns.

The 2nd Western District Military Court on Monday convicted 49-year-old Yuri Belenkiy and sentenced him to three years in prison followed by 10 years in a strict-regime penal colony, according to a court statement.

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Russian state news agency TASS reported that Belenkiy is a former IT director of the company DiHouse and that prosecutors had asked for 14 years. He was also fined 500,000 roubles ($6,300).

Belenkiy, who holds a Bulgarian residence permit, was detained in September last year when he flew to Moscow for a visit. He denied the charges, and his defence will appeal the verdict, according to TASS.

According to the RIA Novosti news agency, the court found that between August 2022 and March 2024, Belenkiy made 15 cryptocurrency transfers worth more than 120,000 roubles ($1,500) to fund Ukraine’s armed forces and the Azov battalion, which Russia designates a “terrorist” organisation. He used payment details posted by Arkady Babchenko, an exiled Russian journalist and Kremlin critic. RIA added that Belenkiy is on the Russian financial monitoring agency’s list of “terrorists and extremists”.

Russian law enforcement documents seen by the Reuters news agency showed that Binance gave investigators Belenkiy’s transaction history in response to a Russian request. The documents also showed that the records were instrumental in prosecuting him.

“The response from Binance serves as key evidence in the criminal case against Belenkiy,” Yevgeny Smirnov, a lawyer with the rights group First Department, which assists people facing politically motivated prosecutions in Russia, told Reuters.

In court, however, the defence questioned whether the data really came from Binance, noting that the exchange has not cooperated with Russia since 2022, TASS reported.

Asked about the sentence, Binance referred Reuters to a previous statement saying the exchange “does not make or enforce the laws of any jurisdiction, determine charges, or decide how any government uses information in legal proceedings”. It said it does not comment on confidential law enforcement requests or individual cases.

Binance pulled out of the Russian market in 2023, after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions that followed. Mike Bystrov, a lawyer specialising in crypto regulation, told Reuters in August that the exchange had been under no obligation to provide Belenkiy’s data. Because of Belenkiy’s Bulgarian residency, Bystrov said, Binance may in fact have been obliged under European Union data protection law not to do so.

First Department claimed in a recent report that about 10 percent of all charges brought under the country’s treason and espionage laws in 2025 were linked to donations to Ukrainian organisations. The group said authorities track cryptocurrency transfers as well as bank payments, and continue to open cases over donations made as early as 2022.

加密货币交易所币安将乌克兰的捐款数据泄露给了俄罗斯当局，导致他被定罪。

据路透社看到的资料显示，币安已向俄罗斯调查人员提供了捐赠记录。[图片：Dado Ruvic/Illustration/路透社]

俄罗斯一家军事法庭判处一名IT专家13年监禁，罪名是资助“恐怖主义”。此前，加密货币交易所币安向俄罗斯调查人员提供了该专家向乌克兰筹款活动捐款的详细信息。

据法院声明，第二西部地区军事法庭周一判处 49 岁的尤里·别连基三年有期徒刑，外加十年严格管理的劳改营刑期。

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俄罗斯国家通讯社塔斯社报道称，别连基是迪豪斯公司的前IT总监，检察官要求判处他14年监禁。他还被处以50万卢布（约合6300美元）的罚款。

持有保加利亚居留许可的别连基去年9月前往莫斯科探亲时被拘留。他否认了所有指控，据塔斯社报道，他的辩护律师将对判决提出上诉。

据俄罗斯新闻社报道，法院认定，2022年8月至2024年3月期间，别连基通过15笔加密货币转账，总额超过12万卢布（约合1500美元），用于资助乌克兰武装部队和被俄罗斯认定为“恐怖组织”的亚速营。他使用了流亡俄罗斯记者、克里姆林宫批评者阿尔卡季·巴布琴科公布的支付信息。俄罗斯新闻社还补充说，别连基已被列入俄罗斯金融监管机构的“恐怖分子和极端分子”名单。

路透社看到的俄罗斯执法部门文件显示，币安应俄罗斯方面的要求，向调查人员提供了别连基的交易记录。文件还显示，这些记录在起诉别连基的过程中发挥了关键作用。

“币安的回应是针对别连基的刑事案件的关键证据，”人权组织“第一部门”的律师叶夫根尼·斯米尔诺夫告诉路透社。该组织致力于帮助在俄罗斯面临政治迫害的人们。

据塔斯社报道，在法庭上，辩方质疑这些数据是否真的来自币安，并指出该交易所自 2022 年以来就没有与俄罗斯合作过。

当被问及判决结果时，币安向路透社援引了此前的一份声明，称该交易所“不制定或执行任何司法管辖区的法律，不决定指控罪名，也不决定任何政府如何在法律诉讼中使用信息”。币安表示，它不对保密的执法请求或个案发表评论。

在莫斯科全面入侵乌克兰以及随后西方实施制裁之后，币安于2023年退出了俄罗斯市场。专门从事加密货币监管的律师迈克·比斯特罗夫(Mike Bystrov)在8月份告诉路透社，该交易所没有义务提供贝连基(Belenkiy)的数据。比斯特罗夫表示，由于贝连基是保加利亚居民，根据欧盟数据保护法，币安实际上可能有义务不提供这些数据。

第一部门在最近的一份报告中声称，2025年该国根据叛国罪和间谍罪提起的全部指控中，约有10%与向乌克兰组织捐款有关。该组织表示，当局不仅追踪银行支付，还追踪加密货币转账，并持续对早在2022年进行的捐款展开调查。