Treasury Department adds Russian paramilitary group’s crypto wallets to its sanction list

The United States Treasury Department has recently tightened its stance on Russia by sanctioning five crypto addresses connected to an extremist Russian paramilitary group.

On September 15, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Task Force Rusich, a Russian organization, along with its cryptocurrency addresses.

The Treasury Department has placed sanctions on five Task Force Rusich cryptocurrency addresses. On the TRON blockchain, two of those addresses hold Bitcoin, two hold Ethereum, and one carries USDT.

According to reports from other outlets, such wallets have seen the movement of cryptocurrency valued at thousands of dollars. Some of the addresses were still in use as of September 14.

Task Force Rusich, according to the U.S. Treasury, was a Neo-Nazi paramilitary organization that fought with the Russian military in the Ukraine dispute this year. It claims that the group’s members were caught on camera in 2015 carrying out “atrocities against deceased and captured Ukrainian soldiers.”

It is important to note that the group was founded in St. Petersburg, Russia, and goes by multiple names, including “Military-Patriotic Club Rusich” and “Rusich Sabotage and Assault Reconnaissance Group.” It is occasionally regarded as a constituent member of the Wagner Group, a larger and more notorious Russian paramilitary group.

Several other subjects were added to and removed from the Treasury’s sanctions list in the recent update. The other parties identified in the declaration have locations in Libya, Zimbabwe, and Russia.

Treasury Department’s recent comments on Tornado

Notably, none of any other persons or groups mentioned in the list had crypto addresses associated with their names. However, the Treasury recently imposed sanctions on a number of Bitcoin addresses linked to a ransomware organization operating out of Iran.

More significantly, the Treasury Department banned addresses in August in connection with the Tornado Cash Ethereum coin mixer. It was made clear this week that people who used Tornado Cash lawfully can take specific steps to recover any funds they may have locked in the protocol.