Sanctioned Entities Network

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the number of sanctioned people and companies (collectively called “entities”) associated with the Putin Regime has skyrocketed - quickly surpassing previous numbers from Iran and North Korea. Sanctioned oligarchs quickly saw their planes grounded, yachts confiscated, and their bank accounts disconnected from the Western financial system. Unable to wire money, smuggle cash, or invest in art, they started to look for alternative ways to ferry wealth in and out of Russia. Some have attempted to leverage the pseudo-anonymous nature of crypto assets and the weak KYC/AML checks at crypto exchanges.

For each sanctioned entity, there is typically a vast network of relatives, friends, acquaintances, or other enablers who can help them evade sanctions. One of the most straightforward ways to do so is by simply opening accounts under their names and moving funds outside of Russia without scrutiny.

Below is Inca Digital’s attempt to visualize a massive network of connections between disparate entities to help discover and navigate their complex relations - with the ultimate goal of helping financial institutions, both in crypto and in tradfi, identify and prevent sanctions evasion beyond traditional tools that simply scrape lists of names from the Department of Treasury. This database includes not only sanctioned entities, but also those connected to them, as well as entities that support Putin’s regime but have not yet been sanctioned. All entities are divided into categories and have a short description of who they are and what they do. Simple network graphs are intended to show the relations between the entities and all have clickable nodes enabling financial institutions, journalists, investigators, and law enforcement a more robust tool to identify and stop sanctions evasion and money laundering originating from the Putin Regime.