Russia’s FSB Charges Scientist with Treason for ‘Sending Crypto to Ukraine’

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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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August 21, 2024

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Russia’s FSB, the nation’s Federal Security Service, has charged a Moscow-based scientist with “treason” for allegedly sending cryptoassets to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In an official FSB release and a report from Vedomosti, the agency explained that its agents have detained “an employee of a scientific organization in Moscow.”

Officers claimed that the unnamed scientist “regularly transferred his personal funds and cryptocurrency” to wallets operated by the Ukrainian army.

Russia’s FSB: Scientist Sent Crypto, Helped Launch DDoS Attacks

Agents claimed that the man “participated in DDoS attacks on a critical Russian structure.”

DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) involves attackers flooding servers with traffic, which often crashes sites or prevents web users from accessing them.

The FSB did not provide any details about the amount of crypto the scientist allegedly sent, nor which kind of coins the man used.

Furthermore, the agency withheld the name of the scientific institutions where the man allegedly worked.

It also refused to name the “critical Russian structure” it says suffered the DDoS attack.

“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has opened a criminal case against an employee of a scientific organization on the grounds of a crime under […] the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.”

Public Relations Center, FSB

The crime in question is classified by Russian law as “high treason,” media outlets reported on August 22.

Officers said the suspect “established contact with representatives of Ukraine’s special services.”

The FSB claimed that on Ukrainian agents’ “instructions,” he “carried out DDoS attacks on critically important Russian facilities.”

The agency said that the man’s goals involved “damaging the information security of the Russian Federation.”

And the FSB said that the man also “collected information about Russian military personnel and the movement of military equipment.”

Officers claimed the man’s crypto donations were used “in Ukraine for the purchase of weapons and military equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

Suspect Has Made a Confession – Agents

The FSB said that the man had provided officers with a “confession.” They concluded that they had remanded the scientists “in custody as a preventive measure.”

Since the outbreak of the war with Ukraine, the FSB has charged several individuals with treason over alleged support for Kyiv.

In 2023, the FSB charged an individual from the far eastern region of Khabarovsk Krai with crypto-related offenses.

And Russia’s Sberbank last year claimed that over $5 million worth of crypto had been sent from Russian-based wallets to recipients in Ukraine since the start of the conflict.

A Ukrainian crypto industry insider who asked to remain anonymous told Cryptonews.com that crypto use is “very much on the rise” in both Russia and Ukraine.