FSB: Russian Man ‘Sent Crypto to Buy Drones for Anti-Putin Militants’

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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March 12, 2025 23:00 EDT

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The FSB, the Russian Federal Security Service, says it has arrested a man in the city of Nizhny Novgorod on treason charges, accusing him of sending crypto to “Ukraine-based militants.” The “militants,” the FSB claims, “used the funds to buy drones.”

Per the state-run Russian newspaper RIA Novosti, the unnamed detainee said he “did not agree with” Moscow’s “Special Military Operation” against Ukraine.

FSB: Russian Man Sent Crypto to Anti-Kremlin Militants

The FSB released a video showing officers breaking down the door of the man’s apartment and arresting him.

Later in the video, the man is handcuffed and reads and then signs a statement. FSB officers then show the man’s PC monitor, with the chat app Telegram running.

Officers say the man used a Telegram open channel to contact Ukrainian military staff and offer to send help.

The video then shows masked officers leading the man, handcuffed, into an unmarked van.

And the video then concludes with the man speaking to the camera. He makes a “confession,” which he appears to be reading. Looking into the camera, he says:

“I was opposed to the Russian President’s decision to launch the Special Military Operation. So I decided to support the Ukrainian Army. I offered support to the Freedom of Russia Legion. […] I sent them [crypto] so they could buy drones.”

The man also says that he used the crypto exchange Binance to swap fiat for crypto. He then explains that he sent these (unnamed) coins to the legion’s official crypto wallets.

The Freedom of Russia Legion claims to have been formed in March 2022. It is based in Ukraine.

However, it claims that its members are Russian citizens who oppose the government of Vladimir Putin.

The group has previously claimed responsibility for a number of cross-border raids into Russia.

Moscow claims the legion has used its Telegram channel as a recruiting platform, and has banned the organization, classifying it as “a terrorist group.”

The man reportedly confessed to sending crypto to the legion on two separate occasions.

Russians ‘Have Sent Crypto Worth Over $5M to Ukraine’

The incident is the latest in a long line of FSB arrests, with suspects invariably using crypto to send funds to Ukraine.

Several individuals have been charged with “high treason,” with the FSB accusing them of using crypto to send money to various Ukraine-based military units.

The list includes a Moscow-based scientist and an individual from the Russian Far Eastern region of Khabarovsk Krai.

The FSB claims Ukraine has previously used Russian crypto donations to buy items such as “unmanned thermal imaging sights, aircraft, ammunition, and uniforms.”

The megabank Sberbank last year claimed that over $5 million worth of crypto had been sent from Russian-based wallets to Ukraine-based recipients since the start of the conflict in February 2022.