Considered Playing A Role In Corruption, Russian Parliament Drafts Anti-crypto Law

Russia's parliamentary office, the Duma, is currently drafting an Anti-crypto Law. (photo: doc. duma.gov.ru)

JAKARTA - Russian lawmakers are drafting a new law that will allow the government to confiscate cryptocurrencies. This news was delivered by the Russian news agency, TASS, this week.

Russian Attorney General Igor Krasnov claims that the Russian government is currently developing a set of amendments to the country's criminal code to allow authorities to confiscate cryptocurrencies obtained from illegal activities.

Speaking at a conference of the prosecutors' offices of European countries on Wednesday, July 7, Krasnov stressed that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) are increasingly being used for corruption and bribery. The official said that cryptocurrencies are also a tool to launder embezzled budget funds.

“Criminal use of cryptocurrencies poses a serious challenge in our country,” Krasnov said. He claims that Russia's adopted crypto law “On Digital Financial Assets” (DFA) has played an important role in tackling this problem. However, the new criminal code amendments will bring additional protection. “This will allow the implementation of restrictive measures and the confiscation of virtual assets,” Krasnov said.

According to some local industry experts, there is no law that allows the government to actually confiscate crypto assets. “It is clear that digital assets stored in wallets are not as likely to be confiscated as other types of assets,” Nikita Soshnikov, a former senior attorney at Deloitte CIS and director of Alfacash, told Cointelegraph.

“However, there was already one important case where FSB officers were found guilty of accepting bribes, and the court officially confiscated 0.1 and 4,70235 BTC as state revenue,” he added.

Soshnikov said that Russia began developing proposals to seize cryptocurrencies in 2019, years before the DFA law was adopted.

"The Attorney General's Office remains a key stakeholder of this project, and in such a context, the current statement is only a confirmation of the agreed plan," he added.

Previously the deputy chairman of Russia's investigative committee, Krasnov became the country's attorney general in early 2020. Since that appointment, Krasnov has been an outspoken opponent of crypto.

Last year, he claimed that cybercrimes in Russia were often facilitated through cryptocurrencies and had seen a 25-fold increase since 2015. Last October, Krasnov said that Russian civil servants would be required to declare crypto assets on an equal basis with other assets.

Krasnov's renewed efforts to fight crypto-backing corruption in Russia come months after the administration of United States President Joe Biden sanctioned him for prosecuting Russian opposition and anti-corruption leader Alexei Navalny.

According to local investigations, Krasnov himself was involved in several controversies related to corruption.