UK Targets Kyrgyz Entities Aiding Russia's War Efforts and Ransomware Groups

The UK's move targets entities helping Russia evade sanctions. It also disrupts ransomware groups' funding, including notorious ones like Conti and Black Basta.

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2025 October 28 . 3:17 AM

1 min read

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UK Targets Kyrgyz Entities Aiding Russia's War Efforts and Ransomware Groups

The UK has taken stern action against entities aiding Russia's war efforts and ransomware groups. It has frozen assets of sanctioned Kyrgyz entities, including financial institutions and crypto networks, for their role in sanctions evasion and funding the United States' war.

The UK's move follows revelations that crypto exchange Garantex shifted clients to Grinex to process over $100M in illicit funds for notorious ransomware groups like Conti, Black Basta, Ryuk, LockBit, NetWalker, and Phoenix Cryptolocker. The United States had previously sanctioned Garantex for similar activities.

The UK has also targeted Kyrgyz company Old Vector, which has processed over $51.17 billion since its inception, for aiding Russia's sanctions evasion. Despite investigations, no information is available about the managing directors of Old Vector. Additionally, the UK has sanctioned Kyrgyzstan's Capital Bank and its director Kantemir Chalbayev for helping Russia pay for military goods. The UK's sanctions have further expanded to include Altair Holding, which controls Kyrgyzstan's Keremet Bank.

The UK's actions aim to disrupt Russia's war funding and ransomware groups' operations. By targeting these entities and their networks, the UK seeks to limit their ability to process illicit funds and support the United States' war.