Kremlin-Backed A7 Network Channelled Nearly $7 Billion Through Global Banks via Forged Documents and Shell Companies
Kremlin-Backed A7 Network Channelled Nearly $7 Billion Through Global Banks via Forged Documents and Shell Companies #
A Kremlin-backed financial network known as A7 channelled at least $6.9 billion through major international banks by constructing an elaborate web of shell companies, forged invoices and manipulated trade documents to conceal the Russian origin of payments, according to an investigation published by the Financial Times and corroborated by independent research from the Open Source Centre and TRM Labs.
A7 was conceived as a workaround after Russian banks were severed from the SWIFT messaging network following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Despite being publicly presented as a cryptocurrency platform, internal documents show the operation relied heavily on conventional correspondent banking. Ilan Shor, a Moldovan fugitive convicted in connection with a roughly $1 billion bank fraud in 2014, operates the network with Russian state backing. Promsvyazbank (PSB), a defence-aligned Russian state bank itself excluded from SWIFT, holds a 49% stake in the venture.
Rather than replacing SWIFT, investigators describe A7 as a parasitic layer built on top of the existing international banking infrastructure. The network used third-country liquidity pools, with Kyrgyzstan as a principal hub, to settle payments without disclosing their Russian origin. A proprietary internal invoicing tool swapped references to actual goods with mundane items such as LED lights and shelving units while preserving transaction values. Staff inside Russia used virtual private networks to masquerade as being located in whichever foreign jurisdiction hosted the relevant shell company.
The leaked documents identified at least 100 A7 front companies actively making payments, with internal records mentioning at least 100 more spread across the UAE, Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia. Standard Chartered’s Hong Kong operations received approximately $1.1 billion from A7-linked entities between late 2024 and August 2025. DBS in Hong Kong received $273 million, Citigroup clients $74 million, and Deutsche Bank clients in Europe around $18 million. First Abu Dhabi Bank held accounts for at least 17 A7-linked entities. Some documented payments were connected to military hardware and procurement by Russian security services.
A7 has claimed to have settled more than $86 billion in total transactions since its launch. The UK’s National Crime Agency responded by issuing an industry-wide alert urging institutions to screen for A7-related indicators. British authorities simultaneously announced a doubling of the maximum penalty available to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, raising the ceiling from 50% to 100% of any confirmed breach. Shor has described A7 as “pretty much invulnerable,” a claim investigators say is contradicted by the network’s deep dependence on the very regulated financial infrastructure it was built to circumvent.
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