This is one outlet's own report from The Straits Times — the article as it was filed.
AIPROPX ReportThe Straits Times · 1h ago
Binance gave Russia client details used to charge Russian over Ukraine donations, documents show
Binance did not comment on whether handing over Belenkiy’s data would constitute a GDPR rule breach.
Listen Summarise Binance provided Russian authorities in 2025 with client data used to charge Yuri Belenkiy for donating over US$700 to Ukrainian military groups deemed terrorist by Moscow. Binance claims it cooperates only with lawful requests, but experts argue sharing EU resident data with Russia may violate GDPR rules. Belenkiy is detained awaiting trial, highlighting risks for Russians donating to Ukraine amid political repression and Binance's contested role in these prosecutions. AI generated
LONDON - Binance in 2025 handed Russian authorities details of cryptocurrency donations to Ukrainian fundraising campaigns that were used as evidence to bring terrorism financing charges against a Russian IT specialist, law enforcement documents show.
While it is normal for companies like Binance to comply when law enforcement agencies in countries where they operate make legitimate requests to see client information, the world’s largest crypto exchange said in 2023 it had fully exited Russia .
Many Russian citizens have in the past few years used such exchanges to support causes that Moscow subsequently labelled extremist or terrorist.
Several dozen people who made such donations have been prosecuted and convicted in Russia, rights activists who track the cases said.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which handles serious criminal cases, alleged in October that IT specialist Yuri Belenkiy, who was detained in September 2025, sent more than US$700 (S$893.94) to the Ukrainian military and an associated group, known at different times as the Azov Brigade and the Azov Regiment, which Moscow designates as a terrorist organisation.
Binance was under no obligation to provide the data, having quit Russia, and may in fact have had an obligation not to provide it under European Union data protection law, said Mike Bystrov, founder of law firm Stellar Consulting that advises on crypto regulation.
“Binance does not make or enforce the laws of any jurisdiction, determine charges, or decide how any government uses information in legal proceedings,” a Binance spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“Like other global financial institutions, we cooperate with lawful information requests from law enforcement globally, subject to applicable legal, privacy and regulatory requirements. Those decisions rest solely with the relevant Authorities.”
Contacted by Reuters for comment on the case, the European Data Protection Board, a body set up by the EU, declined to comment, saying responsibility for enforcement of data protection laws lies with relevant authorities in individual European states.
Asked by Reuters if data protection laws had been broken in Belenkiy’s case, the Commission for Personal Data Protection in Bulgaria, where Belenkiy is a resident, did not respond.
The documents seen by Reuters only relate to Belenkiy’s case, and Reuters could not determine if any other people who made donations via crypto have been drawn into the Russian law enforcement investigation, or if Binance had identified other users to Russian law enforcement.
The First Corps Azov of the Ukrainian National Guard said it does not disclose donors’ names.
The Ukrainian armed forces and the Ukrainian presidential administration did not respond to requests for comment.
The Kremlin and Russia’s Investigative Committee did not respond to requests for comment.
Belenkiy, who holds a Russian passport and a Bulgarian residency permit, is now in a Russian jail awaiting trial.
A lawyer for the 49-year-old did not respond to Reuters questions about the case or Binance’s role in the investigation.
The law enforcement documents seen by Reuters were obtained by The First Department, which provides legal support to people in Russia being prosecuted in political cases.
The NGO said it was given the documents, which describe the evidence state investigators gathered on Belenkiy before he was charged, by a relative of his.
At the time, Binance told Reuters it had never been contacted by Russian authorities regarding the anti-Kremlin campaigner, who died in an Arctic penal colony in 2024.
In the wake of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine , and Western sanctions imposed on Moscow in response, Binance said it was selling its entire Russian business.
In September 2023, the company said that operating in Russia was not compatible with its compliance strategy and that it was fully exiting Russia, with no ongoing revenue sharing and no option to buy back the business.
“An EU resident would hardly imagine that a crypto-giant that announced it was leaving Russia is actually retaining a channel of communication with that country’s law enforcement. And in their worst nightmares the EU resident would not imagine that the same crypto-giant would give them up, at the first time of asking, to detectives and investigators who engage in political repression,” Dmitry Zair-Bek, head of The First Department, told Reuters.
Bulgaria’s foreign ministry declined to comment.
Bystrov, the crypto regulation lawyer, said if Belenkiy was registered with Binance as an EU resident, which he may have been given his Bulgarian residency, he would be covered by the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
This would prohibit Binance from disclosing his details without a court order and compliance with very stringent provisions, he said.
“In addition, in the EU and under GDPR, Russia is not viewed as a country with an adequate level of protection for personal data, therefore sending personal data there is a very delicate matter,” Bystrov added.
Bystrov in a previous role was a member of the legal team that represented Binance when it successfully challenged a ban on its main website within Russia in January 2021.
Asked if his client was registered with Binance as a Bulgarian resident, and therefore covered by GDPR rules, Bele...
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