Binance gave Moscow client details used to charge Russian over Ukraine donations, documents show

LONDON, Aug 17 - Binance last year 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. Reuters could not establish the precise number.

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 $700 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.