Crypto network exposé: Putin sanctions UK teen

The sanctions were imposed after a report linked to Browder allegedly revealed how the rouble-backed A7A5 cryptocurrency was used to launder funds and evade sanctions.

Moscow / London: A 17-year-old British teenager has been sanctioned by Russia after reportedly helping expose an alleged cryptocurrency network used to finance the war in Ukraine.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Alexander Browd­er of spreading “false infor­mation” about govt policy. The sanctions were imposed after a report linked to Browder allegedly revealed how the rouble-backed A7A5 cryptocurrency was used to launder funds and evade sanctions.

Browder is the son of human rights activist Sir Bill Browder and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Manage­ment. The report was published in March by the Henry Jackson Society think-tank.

Responding to the move, Browder told The Times the sanctions did not intimidate him and instead showed he had “touched a nerve”. On X, he said he was proud to be the first high school student sanctioned by an authoritarian regime for exposing corru­p­ti­on. The sanctions also bar him from entering Russia, where his father has been banned since 2005.