Reports

CIR's new investigation reveals open-source evidence linking Kyrgyz payments company Tsunami Payments to A7A5, the sanctioned stablecoin underpinning Russia's A7 sanctions-evasion network, and traces its directors' and owners' ties to politically connected cryptocurrency ventures across Kyrgyzstan's financial sector.

This investigation documents open source evidence connecting The OneGate, an international money transfer platform, to TGR, a transnational organisation previously investigated for money laundering by UK and US authorities. It also identifies newly uncovered links to Novatum, a second payments network with apparent ties to sanctions evasion activity involving Russia and Belarus.

Despite being sanctioned by the US, UK and EU, Russia's A7 network is expanding its reach in Africa, backed by the Kremlin. CIR's latest investigation suggests A7 is entering a new phase, more directly integrated into the Kremlin's strategic and military operations in Africa, and no longer operating purely as a commercial sanctions evasions network.

A7, led by convicted fraudster Ilan Shor and backed by sanctioned Russian banks, claims to have moved over $86 billion in less than a year. CIR’s investigation details how A7 uses shell companies and promissory notes, a form of trade-based money laundering, to evade Western sanctions. With most of its activity routed through China and new offices opening in Africa, A7 is emerging as a global sanctions-evasion hub.

A CIR investigation suggests that Russian company A7 - co-owned by Moldovan political figure and businessman Ilan Shor and Russian state-owned defence bank Promsvyazbank - has been constructing a system based on both fiat currency and cryptocurrency for the large-scale transfer of money into and out of Russia.