Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to her Department's press notice entitled UK targets sanctions circumvention and crypto networks exploited by Russia, published on 20 August 2025, what estimate she has made of the value of material the Russian military have purchased through the Kyrgyzstan-based OJSC Capital Bank of Central Asia.

The UK remains committed to increasing economic pressure on Russia including its financial and energy sectors. This includes carefully targeted sanctions against Russia's attempts to circumvent sanctions and create alternative payment systems, including through its use of cryptocurrencies such as A7A5. The 20 August 2025 package of sanctions targeted crypto networks and financial systems in Kyrgyzstan being exploited by Russia, building on over 2700 existing UK sanctions against Russia. UK sanctions complemented action taken by the United States who announced similar measures targeting the cryptocurrency. Sanctions are a critical instrument of the UK's foreign, national and security policy and are deployed selectively and proportionately to complement other tools as part of a wider strategy to deter Russia from continuing its illegal invasion of Ukraine. We continue to monitor the impact of our sanctions closely and engage with third countries on Russian circumvention and where Russia is attempting to exploit financial networks.