Russia’s Hottest Startup Is a Sanctions Evasion Network

“Russia’s war effort in Ukraine might be faltering, but the Kremlin has a high-tech superweapon to neutralize Western sanctions,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“It is called A7. The state-backed payment network moves money in and out of Russia, defying U.S. and European efforts to isolate Moscow from the global banking system. A7 helps Russia pay for everything from military-drone parts to luxury cars to imported fruit, using a mix of cryptocurrency transactions and more-traditional banking methods, researchers say.”