Two weeks after the U.S. Treasury branded Russian payments firm A7 a transnational criminal organization, three of Russia's most senior officials have taken seats on the company's board of directors.

Russia's Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov are A7's newest directors. The appointments mean officials overseeing the country's finance and energy portfolios, along with the government's first deputy prime minister, now sit on the board of a firm under U.S. sanctions. They also extend the state's role at A7 beyond Promsvyazbank's 49% stake, placing serving cabinet members inside a firm co-founded by the state lender that services Russia's defense sector.

Russian ministers join A7 board

On October 1, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated A7 as a transnational criminal organization, listing addresses in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. Now three of the country's most senior officials have joined the company's board. For banks and exchanges abroad, board seats held by serving ministers amount to an unusually direct ownership-and-control signal — exactly the kind of detail sanctions screening is built to catch.

A7 was set up in 2024 by Promsvyazbank (PSB), the state lender that services Russia's defense sector and is itself under Western sanctions, together with Moldovan businessman Ilan Shor, whom the U.S. Treasury has described as a convicted fraudster. PSB holds a 49% stake in the firm.

Western sanctions have cut off the banking links Russian companies once used to pay foreign suppliers, and trade with China, Russia's biggest partner, has been hit especially hard. A7 fills that gap by sending payments through a network of companies in other countries. According to the firm, channels like its own now handle up to 80% of the payments behind Russia's foreign trade.

As of January 2026, A7 was processing more than 2,000 transactions a day, according to the U.S. Treasury. Those transactions were worth about 13% of Russia's foreign-trade flows in 2025, roughly 81.44 billion euros ($91.5 billion).

Designation under Operation Economic Outcast

A7's designation came under Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign aimed at Iran, after the U.S. Treasury said Iran's central bank and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had used A7's channels.

Alongside the designation, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed a rule that would block transfers involving A7's front companies, which it calls Sub-Agents. The measure would affect both fiat and crypto and would bind roughly 348,000 institutions, including crypto exchanges. Because the measure is still a proposal, whether it is finalized — and on what terms — will determine if those institutions are actually required to cut off transfers touching A7's network.

FinCEN says more than 180 entities moved at least $179.1 billion through A7's A7A5 token between February 2025 and June 2026.

What is A7A5?

A7A5 was launched in Kyrgyzstan in 2025. It is a stablecoin backed by ruble deposits held at PSB, and PSB estimates its cumulative turnover has reached about $140 billion. The company and the token have been under U.S. sanctions since August 2025. Backed by ruble deposits at a sanctioned state lender, the token illustrates how stablecoins can stand in for the correspondent-banking links sanctions have severed, giving counterparties a way to settle in rubles outside the traditional banking system.

Cryptopolitan has reported that A7 used a mix of regular bank transfers and the cryptocurrencies USDT and A7A5. The blockchain firm TRM Labs traced more than $166 billion in crypto activity linked to A7.

Separately, on October 8, the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office announced sanctions on 38 targets, including three crypto exchanges, two payment platforms and one individual. The UK said two of those sanctioned had handled transactions with the A7 network. With the U.S. designation, FinCEN's pending rulemaking and the UK's measures all bearing on the same network, the clearest next marker to watch is whether the Sub-Agent rule is finalized, which would convert the proposed block into a binding obligation for roughly 348,000 institutions.