Russia sentences an IT specialist to 13 years for donating to Ukraine’s military. Binance helped investigators prove their case.
Source: Department One
The Second Western District Military Court has sentenced Yuri Belenky, a 49-year-old IT specialist, to 13 years in prison for financing terrorism, the human rights group Department One reported.
Belenky will serve the first three years in prison before being transferred to a high-security penal colony. The court also fined him 500,000 rubles and ordered the confiscation of another 126,000 rubles.
News of Belenky’s detention emerged in late 2025. He had lived in Bulgaria since 2015 and regularly visited Russia. He was detained at Sheremetyevo Airport in September 2025, initially jailed for the administrative offense of petty hooliganism, and then charged with financing terrorism.
The case stemmed from donations to an account whose details blogger Arkady Babchenko had published. Russian investigators were able to prove that the transfers took place “thanks to a detailed report that the cryptocurrency exchange Binance sent in response to a request from the Investigative Committee,” Department One said.
Read more
At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.
If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].
To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.