Russian Interior Ministry and StopNarcotics Agree to Jointly Identify Illicit Bitcoin Transactions

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Central Bank have responded to statements by the nationwide StopNarcotics organization regarding the need to track cryptocurrency transactions linked to drug trafficking. This is reported by сообщает Lenta citing a letter from the head of the Drug Trafficking Control Department, Andrey Yanishevsky.

The document states that representatives of the agency held a working meeting with members of StopNarcotics.

“An agreement has been reached on conducting joint activities to identify financial operations with cryptocurrencies obtained from the sale of drugs,” the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

In September, StopNarcotics asked the heads of the Central Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to check the partners of the U.S.-sanctioned exchange Suex and block their illicit transactions.

The U.S. Treasury Department says that through Suex flowed funds of operators of at least eight ransomware programs, scam projects, dark-net marketplaces, and the now-defunct BTC-e exchange. Among other things, the exchange processed WEX exchange transactions worth several million dollars.

Analysts involved in the investigation calculated that assets linked to cybercriminals accounted for up to 40% of Suex’s turnover.

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