Amidst Ukraine crisis, Russia gets over $2m crypto aid to fund war

• Russia gets over $2m crypto aid to defeat Ukraine.
• Troops use funds to get more military and medical supplies for war.
• Sanctioned individuals behind donations received by Russian troops.

Pro-Russian groups across the globe have reportedly raised over $ 2 million in crypto aid to ensure the victory of Russian troops in Ukraine amidst global outcry.

Crypto analytic firm, Chainalysis revealed this in a blog post on Friday noting that they identified 54 organizations that have collectively received over $2.2 million worth of cryptocurrency, primarily from Bitcoin and Ether donations. Chainalysis revealed that Tether, Litecoin, and Dogecoin were also donated to the Russian cause by these groups.

The Russia and Ukraine brawl has been ongoing for six months now with troops of each side engaging themselves in massive war actions and active fighting most of which the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine has been host. Several militia groups have also joined forces with the Russian troops to fight against Ukraine.

Russia uses crypto aid to boost military supplies

Chainalysis reveals further that the donation received by Russian troops are used to purchase war supplies like weapons, drones, bulletproof vests, communication devices among others.

“… we have only 150 thousand rubles left to collect for a drone that will be able to bring “gifts” to the positions of our Ukrainian “friends.” We hope that we will be able to shoot it on video and delight you with interesting shots, Chainalysis quoted paramilitary groups’ social media handles.

Other groups supporting the Russian troops in the war revealed that they used the donation to purchase medical equipment such as first aid kits and medical bags.

Individuals behind crypto donation to Russia revealed

Chainalysis in the blog post revealed that a number of sanctioned entities have been at the front promoting and collecting crypto donations for Russian troops.

The analytics firm mentioned Alexander Zhuchkovsky, an OFAC-designated Russian national noting that he has used social media to solicit donations for the Russian Imperial Movement, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group. Recently, Zhuchkovsky also posted support for Project Terricon, which is soliciting cryptocurrency donations to support Donbas militia groups. Terricon explicitly states on their website that they are using crypto aid due to the imposition of sanctions, and have even offered several NFTs for fundraising.