Some Russians are using their Bitcoin (BTC) to aid Ukrainians in the ongoing military attack, this portrays to be one of few ways for Russians to help Ukrainians amid the war.
In the midst of Russia’s ongoing military onslaught on Ukraine, Pavel Muntyan, a prominent Russian animation producer and creator of the animated web series “Mr Freeman,” has called on anti-war Russians to defend Ukrainian residents.
Donate to Ukraine as a Russian
Muntyan took to Twitter on Tuesday to announce the creation of a bitcoin donation address for Russians who want to anonymously help Ukrainians, while Russia has barred its nationals from doing so.
On February 27, Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office issued an official warning that any aid to Ukrainians during Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine would be considered high treason, with Russians facing up to 20 years in prison.
As a result, Muntyan is now inviting Russians to donate money to those who have been harmed by Russian military activities.
Russians can now donate in any token on blockchains such as the Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, Ethereum, HECO, and Avalanche using his crypto address without revealing their name, he wrote:
“Now you can help Ukraine and do it anonymously. With the help of crypto. All the money will be used to provide Ukrainian civilians with essential goods, as well as to support the families of soldiers of the Ukrainian army.”
“You may now aid Ukraine while remaining anonymous. With the assistance of crypto. The money will be utilized to give vital supplies to Ukrainian people as well as to support the families of Ukrainian army members.”
He emphasized that the monies donated will only be utilized to help innocent people and will not be used to support military actions.
The donation address has roughly $1,500 in Ether (ETH) and about $350,000 in Tether (USDT) stablecoin at the time of writing.
The Ukrainian government, in collaboration with a number of cryptocurrency companies, has set up a number of cryptocurrency donation channels to aid Ukrainians in the wake of Russia’s military incursion into the country.
The total amount of public cryptocurrency donations sent to the Ukrainian government, military, and charity has surpassed $40 million as of Monday.
Mr. Freeman
Mr. Freeman is a fictional character who appears in Muntyan’s eponymous animated series and is recognized for championing freedom while also critiquing the current everyman’s lifestyle.
At the time of writing, the series had over 1.5 million YouTube subscribers and had been seen over 150 million times.
Muntyan is no stranger to the crypto world, having previously launched his own cryptocurrency in partnership with Free TON, one of Telegram’s initial Telegram Open Network project’s crypto spinoffs.
He’s also interested in nonfungible tokens (NFT) and has launched multiple NFT drops on platforms such as OpenSea.
Apart from his crypto participation, Muntyan is renowned for supporting Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s foes.
Russia might be using crypto to avoid sanctions
The latest report comes as the West grows increasingly concerned about Russians using cryptocurrency to avoid major sanctions imposed on Russian corporations and individuals.
The European Union is working to address Russia’s possible use of cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions imposed on it following its operations in Ukraine, France’s finance minister said on Wednesday.
The US Treasury Department had previously urged American corporations and individuals not to handle cryptocurrency transactions made to specific Russian citizens and banks.
