Reuters: Binance allegedly handed Moscow data on crypto donations to the Ukrainian military

Reuters says Binance allegedly provided Russian authorities with transaction data on crypto donations sent to Ukrainian organizations, and that the material was later used in a terrorism financing case against Russian IT specialist Yury Belenky. For high-risk payment and crypto operators, the point is simple: cross-border compliance, law-enforcement requests, and residency status can collide fast, especially when a platform has already exited a market.

1. According to Reuters, the documents show that Russian law enforcement asked Binance for Belenky’s transaction history, and that Binance allegedly returned detailed information on his crypto transfers to Ukrainian organizations. Reuters said it could not independently verify the authenticity of the documents.
2. Belenky, an IT company employee listed by Rosfinmonitoring as a person involved in extremism and terrorism, was detained in Moscow in autumn 2025. On 13 October, Moscow’s Savyolovsky District Court placed him in custody on charges of assisting terrorist activity under part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
3. The court press service said the case concerned crypto transfers made between January 2023 and March 2024 “for the purpose of financing the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as a terrorist organization whose activity is banned in the Russian Federation.” Reuters, citing Russia’s Investigative Committee, said the transfer amount exceeded $700.
4. One of the documents seen by Reuters reportedly shows that the transaction details processed through Binance were included as evidence in the case against Belenky. Binance said it “does not comment on specific confidential law enforcement requests or individual cases.”
5. Reuters noted that Binance normally complies with lawful law-enforcement requests in the countries where it operates, but also said the exchange fully exited Russia in 2023. Mike Bystrov, founder of Stellar Consulting, told Reuters that Binance was not obliged to provide the data after leaving Russia. He added that if Belenky was registered with Binance as an EU resident, his Bulgarian residence permit would bring him under GDPR, which bars disclosure of personal data without a court order.

Reuters said it could not establish whether Belenky was registered with Binance as an EU customer. That detail matters more than the headline, because for PSPs and crypto platforms it is often the residency record, not the nationality headline, that determines which disclosure regime applies.