Russia Sanctions 17-Year-Old Over A7A5 Stablecoin Report

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday placed 17-year-old British student Alexander Browder on a sanctions list, banning him and four other British nationals from entering the Russian Federation. The designation follows a March report by Browder that alleged the ruble-backed A7A5 stablecoin was central to a large crypto laundering network.

The ministry named four other Britons alongside Browder: reporter Catherine Belton; Alice Mary Laugher, a managing director; Richard Nicholas Westbury, a company founder; and journalist Richard Holmes. The statement barred all five from entering Russia.

Browder, who founded the Global Cryptocurrency Laundering Database, published the report in March. His database catalogs 164 cases of alleged crypto laundering spanning about 20 years, and his paper cited UK government figures stating the A7A5 network processed roughly $90 billion in transactions last year and that about $350 billion in crypto transactions were linked to state-associated laundering.

The A7A5 stablecoin was launched in January 2025 by Ilan Shor, a Moldovan citizen under UK sanctions, in partnership with Promsvyazbank, a Russian bank that is also under sanctions. Browder’s report said the token and its network were structured to evade Western restrictions and to enable large cross-border flows.

Browder responded on X, calling the sanction “a badge of honor” and saying he was proud to be “the first high school student in the world to ever be sanctioned by an authoritarian regime for uncovering corruption.” He added, “I have exposed their Achilles’ heel. Without A7A5 they would not be able to fund their war of aggression.” The Foreign Ministry did not attach further penalties beyond the travel ban announced in its statement.

Browder is the son of Sir Bill Browder, a long-time critic of the Russian government who was banned from Russia in 2005 and who helped advance the U.S. Magnitsky Act targeting individuals accused of human-rights abuses and corruption. The sanctions come amid increased scrutiny from governments and investigators of how digital assets can be used to move funds across borders.