European Union may also Toughen Sanctions Against Russian Financial Criminals if new Sanctions are Imposed by the USA

According to the EU Observer, the European Union has begun to develop the 17th package of sanctions against Russia, despite calls from the Russian authorities to lift sanctions from the Russian Agricultural Bank as a response to a partial ceasefire. According to the newspaper, the content and degree of the new EU sanctions package will largely depend on the progress between the USA, Russia, and Ukraine to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the USA and the European Union have been actively imposing sanctions against Russia, but have generally demonstrated an independent sanctions policy. Already in 2023, Washington and Brussels agreed to actively exchange information, as well as to coordinate efforts to develop, impose sanctions, and monitor their compliance.

It is highly important to note that this is not the first successful experience of such cooperation between the United States and the European Union. Since 2016, within the frames of the bilateral Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP), Washington and Brussels have investigated hundreds of thousands of suspicious transactions. The data from the joint investigations were used to prevent terrorist attacks in the EU.

As of today, relations between the USA and the European Union are undergoing another hard challenge. At the same time, the collection and exchange of data on financial crime and terrorism never stop, since both processes affect the national interests of the USA and of the European Union. In particular, according to the American media, while Washington is officially giving Moscow signs of the possibility of lifting sanctions in case of progress in a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, the US Treasury continues to collect dossiers on Russian financial criminals.

According to several former officials, the USA has probably expanded the range of monitoring of sanctioned individuals and companies. Previously, the Ministry of Finance’s attention was focused on the most prominent big players. In other words, sanctions against them were most painful to Putin’s inner circle and the Russian economy. Now, the attention of officials of the financial department is also focused on the average players, i.e. thousands of Russian criminal groups engaged in financial fraud, deception, laundering dirty money, and circumventing sanctions.

According to the media, the introduction of sanctions against the TGR Group, an international network of companies and individuals, in December 2024, is the first shot within the frames of the policy of the US Treasury. American officials claimed that the network helped circumvent sanctions in the interests of the Russian Federation. It was reported that the TGR Group, controlled by a citizen of Ukraine, George Rossi, offered Russian clients services such as money laundering, exchanging cash for cryptocurrency, and hiding the source of funds. In addition to George Rossi, several Russian nationals associated with the TGR Group have been sanctioned by the USA.

The US sanctions also include TGR Partners (Moscow), TGR Corporate Concierge (the UK), TGR DWC-LLC (UAE), Siam Expert (Thailand), and Pullman Global Solutions (USA). According to Acting Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Bradley Smith, “With the help of the TGR Group, Russian elites tried to use digital assets, in particular, stablecoins backed by US dollars, to avoid US and international sanctions, further enriching themselves and the Kremlin.”

According to other sources cited by the media, another group, namely the BLESAVARIS GROUP, may become the next object of close attention of the US Treasury. Right now, we are talking about a huge financial company registered in the UAE (Dubai), with branches and affiliated companies in Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia, Austria, as well as in Ukraine. According to the media, all of these countries, except Ukraine, are actively used by Russia to circumvent international sanctions. Former officials familiar with the BLESAVARIS GROUP dossier note that its subsidiaries are actively engaged in financial fraud, including the usage of cryptocurrency. Information about this can be found in the media and social networks.

According to the sources, one proof that this international group is working for the Kremlin is the existence of two declared businessmen associated with the Russian intelligence services. The first is Russian Anton Adzhiev, who is the founder of the BLESAVARIS GROUP. He was born in Moscow. From 1999-2023, he was actively involved in business in Russia, in particular, in the Chechen Republic, where he had numerous contacts with representatives of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the leadership of the republic. In 2016, Adzhiev moved to Ukraine permanently and received a Ukrainian passport. He is considered to be involved in numerous illegal financial frauds in Ukraine.

The second declared businessman is Valery Mazurov, a citizen of Belarus and Russia, who heads the Belarusian branch of BLESAVARIS GROUP. According to sources, Mazurov worked in senior positions in the Interior Ministry of Belarus and was recruited by the Russian FSB in 2017. While controlling this entity and helping the Kremlin circumvent American and European sanctions, he carries out financial fraud with cryptocurrency in Belarus. He is considered inviolable by Belarusian law enforcement agencies, who know everything about Mazurov’s crimes.

According to the sources, the investigation against online financial criminal groups such as the BLESAVARIS GROUP is ongoing. There are high chances that the USA will be able to create a specific list of sanctions that can be used at any given moment in time. This list will also include sanctions against all persons associated with these structures. It is possible that Adzhiev, Mazurov, and BLESAVARIS GROUP may be included in a broader sanctions package that the Ministry of Finance introduces from time to time against international financial criminals.

So, will the European Union join the American strategy of chasing those average players? We can’t exclude such a possibility now. After all, we are talking not only about the political component related to the potential financing of Russian military aggression against Ukraine. Organizations such as the TGR Group and the BLESAVARIS GROUP may pose a threat not only to the USA but also to the European Union. Therefore, Brussels has no other choice but to react to this. Moreover, even the informal joining of the European Union to the persecution of those average players from Russia can strengthen the negotiating position of the European Union in the process of communication with Russia.