Binance would have transmitted Yuri Belenkiy’s personal data as well as his transaction history to the Russian authorities. This 49-year-old computer scientist had sent more than $700 in crypto to collections supporting Ukraine. He was arrested in September 2025 in Russia. He is now awaiting trial on charges of financing terrorism.
In brief
- Binance allegedly transmitted Yuri Belenkiy’s passport, address and transactions.
- Russian investigators then used these transactions in their case.
- Binance claims to be cooperating with legal requests received from authorities.
Binance had already left Russia
Binance had announced its departure from the Russian market in September 2023. The exchange had sold its local activities to CommEX. However, Yuri Belenkiy still used a Binance account. Russian investigators requested information on several transactions carried out from this account. The response attributed to Binance contained its transaction history.
It also contained his personal data. Date of birth, telephone number, address and passport number were on file. The authorities also reportedly received a copy of his Russian passport. His Bulgarian residence permit also appeared.
Belenkiy had sent over $700 in crypto between January 2023 and March 2024. The funds went to addresses distributed by Arkady Babchenko, a Russian journalist based outside the country and favorable to Ukraine. Investigators found these transfers. In September 2025, Belenkiy was arrested.
Crypto transactions enter the file
The Russian Investigative Committee announced the prosecution the following month. Belenkiy is accused of financing terrorism. Russian authorities believe that part of the money sent was to support groups fighting alongside Ukraine.
Transfers made from Binance are among the elements of the file. Investigators also reportedly asked the exchange for information on other users who had sent funds to one of the addresses published by Babchenko.
It is unclear whether Binance passed these identities to them. Belenkiy currently remains detained awaiting trial. Binance meanwhile continues to enforce sanctions imposed on certain Russian platforms and companies. The exchange had recently strengthened its restrictions on several crypto services linked to Russia.
This does not prevent the platform from responding to requests from Russian law enforcement when they go through its official procedures. This is what would have happened here.
Binance invokes its legal obligations
Binance claims to cooperate with law enforcement in countries where they make requests to it in accordance with applicable rules. The exchange also specifies that it does not decide on the proceedings subsequently initiated against the users concerned.
The Belenkiy affair, however, contains an additional detail. He had a Bulgarian residence permit. If he had registered his Binance account as a resident of the European Union, the transfer of his data to Russia could raise questions under the GDPR.
We do not know the residence declared on his account. It is therefore impossible to go further on this point for the moment. The file, however, gives a good idea of the information retained after an identity check. Binance KYC can notably associate an account with a real identity and official documents.
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