Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
CHUNGUS AWAY
-The irrepressible Zachary Tvarozna leading on A7 latest
-Exclusive analysis on AI and the Yandex bombing from our partner, the GIE Foundation
-Exclusive Iran crypto info
-Inside reports on Serbian election
...and more!
reporter.london/2368/
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
The Russia-Africa Summit is just starting but we got hold of the 37 pages Conclusion - so no need to go! Written by Artem Toporkov, who seems to be a diplomat with experience at UNESCO
1) Among the traditional planned actions, Russia is pushing the development of sanctioned A7 on the continent with more settlements in national currencies, linking Russian payment systems with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, and partnerships with Afreximbank, the African Development Bank and the Africa Finance Corporation. For reminder, A7 is now assimilated to a criminal organisation.
2) In the security area, Russia intends to support for the UN Cybercrime Convention, sharing law-enforcement data, and swapping experience on “restricting access to internet resources” that break national laws. This is censorship in action!
3) What we discovered in Madagascar should be replicated elsewhere with the creation of Russian industrial zones in Africa, local production of fertilizers, pharmaceuticals and vaccines, and joint manufacture of agricultural and logistics drones.
4) Pursuing its predatory agenda in Africa on critical minerals by making sure no other countries can get access to it. This may not please the Chinese master.
5) For social and humanitarian: we read more state-funded grants for universities (we believe they forgot to mention access to the Russian army here) and they plan on expanding Russian media in Africa and “combating disinformation.” (sic)
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
All I can think about is how many analysts used Claude to read Anthropic's S-1 ...
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
283 tons of cash rubles. More than $14 billion.
ICIJ traced it to Moscow markets and Ilan Shor’s A7, with most of it bound for China.
Also this week: the 100th drone incursion and Ukrainian border guards chasing a swimmer onto Moldovan soil.
open.substack.com/pub/moldov…
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
NEW: Russian payment firm A7 processed at least $14bn USD in raw cash rubles from Moscow markets - in bank and other payments bound predominantly for Chinese banks, according to exclusive documents obtained by @ICIJorg.
icij.org/news/2026/10/kremli…
With leaked internal records, ICIJ identified a handful of wholesale markets and other businesses around the Russian capital that made up a significant share of the cash U.S.-sanctioned payment firm A7 processed. buff.ly/kqE6nkZ
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
🔎 #BabakovLeaks: InformNapalm exposes French intermediary Geoffroy Doly’s ties to sanctioned Russian official Alexander Babakov’s network.
informnapalm.org/en/alexande…
Special thanks to @256CyberAssault
Share, comment & tag those who should see this!
#Russia #France #EU
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
Last week @TheBanker ran my story exposing growing money laundering and sanctions evasion risks in the US banking sector, due to a loophole allowing valid payment cards to be issued online without identity checks.
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
The Kremlin’s faction in the European Parliament: Meet the MEPs still traveling to Russia to meet politicians, officials and even spies
@ezhovs found that one in 10 current members of the EP has visited Russia since the annexation of Crimea.
theins.press/en/inv/298273
Russia’s Leading Sanctions Evasion Tool Is a New Kind of Illicit Finance Threat
New FDD Policy Brief from @FDD_CEFP's @angela__howard: bit.ly/4yopSZJ
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
Russian payment network A7 - recently designated a "transnational criminal organisation" by the US - is about to launch a... USDT-to-SWIFT service. Upload an invoice, connect your crypto wallet, and it will pay via bank transfer to your counterparty.
a7.biz/
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
Three articles related to the same story about Kyrgyz financial instruments (Processing KG's Vexpay) helping Russia evade Western sanctions:
(1) A leaked briefing note apparently prepared for Putin ahead of his 31 August 2026 meeting with Xi at the Bishkek SCO summit reveals that Russia is seeking to use the Kyrgyz payment platform Vexpay - wired into China's CIPS system with Beijing's blessing - as an insulated intermediary to evade Western sanctions and keep financing its war against Ukraine. shekhovtsov.substack.com/p/l…
(2) A British payments executive, Michael Donald, was given a senior role at VexPay - a Kyrgyz state-owned company linked to the sanctioned, Kremlin-tied money-laundering network A7 run by fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor - according to leaked documents, though Donald denies ever having been hired by or working for the company. ft.com/content/b3c46770-f6c2…
(3) Drawing on domain registrations, registry filings, client paperwork and A7's own chat logs, this piece argues that the Kyrgyz payment company Processing KG and its Vexpay platform fit a recurring pattern in which Kyrgyzstan repeatedly builds new state-backed financial corridors to replace each one the West sanctions or shuts down, giving Russia fresh dollar and yuan access despite marketing itself as a SWIFT alternative. evidenceofabsence.substack.c…
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
The US Treasury has designated A7 a transnational criminal organisation, saying it would freeze its assets in the country and prohibit Americans from doing business with oligarch Ilan Shor’s payments company or any subagents acting on its behalf. ft.trib.al/0SJeSR2
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
September's Financial Geopolitics Chungus is out, with original reporting on hostile state use of crypto to hire "disposable agents," the interplay of AI regulation and geopolitics, and more. Do subscribe!
reporter.london/2346/
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
If I had to give this story a different headline, it would be "Masters of Liquidity" (Metallica fan here). The Russian state's ability to move currencies around through offsets, crypto etc in evasion of sanctions is unmatched. And A7 is absolutely at the forefront of that.
FT Exclusive: Billions of dollars of Rosneft’s foreign earnings were funnelled through a Kremlin-backed money laundering network, putting the state oil group at the heart of Russia’s efforts to circumvent sanctions and supply its war in Ukraine. ft.trib.al/xRr8vXT
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
An interesting follow-up to the A7 story from @Z_Researching.
#Sanctions evasion is not only about shell companies — correspondent banking networks and cross-border ownership structures deserve just as much scrutiny.
This look at ATB and its links across #Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and its correspondent banking network raises some very interesting questions.
Anyways, for more of my recent work on #VTB, check out this piece from the other month.
More to come soon on Kazakhstan
evidenceofabsence.substack.c…
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
Do you like a mystery?
Because I do.
In this latest investigation for @OCCRP, we track where millions of dollars worth of charitable donations made by iron ore miner Ferrexpo flowed in Ukraine.
occrp.org/en/investigation/i…
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
(1/2) A few minutes ago @USTreasury (re-) designated Russia's VTB Bank under the Iran sanctions as part of the Operation Economic Outcast.
I'd read past the Russia headline as this is a China play.
VTB is Russia's second-largest bank and the only Russian bank with a licensed branch in mainland China, with direct access to China's national payment system.
Since 2024 it has been the main pipe for Russia–China trade after big Chinese banks pulled back. Iranian officials say Russian banks including VTB now hold active correspondent accounts with Iran's central bank and use their Chinese accounts to settle Iranian traders' payments, roughly $1.5 billion in the last 60 days.
VTB has been sanctioned under the Russia program since 2022. Chinese banks kept clearing for it anyway. What changes today: every Chinese bank touching VTB Shanghai now carries Iran-program secondary-sanctions exposure, inside an operation where Treasury is naming a bank a week.
Beijing has shielded its big banks from the Russia fight. Shielding them from the Iran fight is a different calculation, days before Xi meets Trump.
Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
Russia’s crypto empire never existed.
Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor sold himself to Russia and sold Moscow a “crypto sanctions bypass.”
But A7 moved most money through SWIFT, shell companies, Kyrgyz and UAE banks, and bank-to-bank accounts, Babel.
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Zachary Tvarozna retweeted
Stop assuming GDP is an indicator of prosperity ft.trib.al/BrErp6q | opinion

























