Russia evaded sanctions worth billions of dollars through a network of shell companies – media

Russia was able to make $6.9 billion in payments through international banks to circumvent sanctions. To do this, they used a network of shell companies and the A7 payment system, which was created as an alternative to international payments after Russian banks were disconnected from SWIFT.

The Financial Times writes about this in its investigation.

The A7 system was created in Russia and Kyrgyzstan by pro-Russian Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor, together with the Russian state-owned Promsvyazbank. In Russia, it began to be actively used to pay for imported goods after the introduction of Western sanctions.

According to the FT, about 100 shell companies linked to A7 made payments from the end of 2024 to August 2025. The money passed through the UAE, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan.

Three companies operated in the UK. The British government imposed sanctions on one of them in May 2025. Another company operated in Hungary and became one of the key channels for making payments to the European Union.

The scheme allowed Russian companies to pay for imports through banks connected to SWIFT. The shell companies deposited money into accounts, which were then used to pay Russian customers.

Some of the transactions involved military and dual-use goods, including military equipment, night sights, and tempered glass. According to the publication, Russian security forces were among the customers.

To make such payments, the companies forged documents and used corporate seals of other companies. They also changed the customs codes of sanctioned goods to similar codes of products that were not subject to restrictions.

To avoid attracting the attention of banks, large sums were also broken down into several smaller payments. In one case, 20 million yuan was divided into 12 transactions, in another, the same amount was spent in six payments.

One bank in the UAE told the Financial Times that it had already identified and closed all accounts known to it linked to A7.

Standard Chartered, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank said they complied with anti-money laundering regulations, but declined to comment in detail on the investigation.

A7 did not respond to requests from the Financial Times.