A strong investigation by the Financial Times. Its journalists dug into a huge leak from inside A7, the Kremlin-backed payment network, and it confirms what we have been saying for a long time about how Russia finances its war. What was an informed assumption is now documented. Here is the essence: Russia's oil export earnings stay abroad. Exporters, including Coral and Rosneft-connected traders, deposit them into the accounts of front companies and in return receive roubles inside Russia. The foreign currency then pays for components and other imports for the war. According to the FT, Rosneft-connected traders alone supplied more than $2 billion to this network. Forged paperwork provided the cover. Inside A7 this was called "legend creation": invoices for "fuel oil" or "grain" delivered to an Algerian port. In one case, in August 2025, 39.9 million dirhams ($10.8 million) from Coral was offset by an equivalent rouble payment to Hurus. The roles of the oil companies and traders, A7, third-country banks and Tether are confirmed. This is state-scale money laundering serving the war against Ukraine. Here is what the response must be: 1Sanction every entity and front company exposed in the leak, and the people behind them. 2Apply secondary sanctions to third-country banks that keep servicing this network. 3Require stablecoin issuers, including Tether, to freeze linked wallets and cooperate fully with enforcement. 4Treat these flows as money laundering and document fraud cases, not only as sanctions violations. 5Banks should re-check past transactions built on similar "legends". The U.S. government can do all of this now under the Lindsey Graham Russia sanctions law. The tools are there. What is needed is the decision. Every dollar in this pool buys drones and missiles used against Ukrainians. Closing it is one of the most effective ways to cut the Kremlin's war financing.

Alisher Usmanov is not simply a “Russian businessman.” His USM group includes Metalloinvest. A Ukrainian court found that Metalloinvest subsidiaries Lebedinsky GOK and Mikhailovsky GOK supplied iron-ore products to Russian industrial companies linked to Uralvagonzavod — part of Rostec and a producer of battle tanks for Russia’s Ministry of Defence. The EU itself identifies Metalloinvest as Usmanov’s largest holding and a major source of revenue for the Russian state. This is a concrete industrial link to Russia’s war economy. Any discussion about removing sanctions on Usmanov should start with these facts.