The National Crime Agency (NCA) has issued a stark warning that buying cocaine on a Friday night in Britain can inadvertently fund Russian arms factories and espionage activities on UK soil. This alarming connection is facilitated by a vast, Russian-led money-laundering network operating across at least 28 towns and cities in the UK, identified as a significant threat to national security and global stability.

Operation Destabilise, the NCA's investigation into this network, has uncovered a sophisticated ecosystem processing billions of pounds in criminal wealth. The network comprises two primary groups: TGR, headed by George Rossi, and Smart, previously run by Ekaterina Zhdanova. These entities provide a "full spectrum of money-laundering services," enabling criminals such as drug dealers and illegal firearms suppliers to convert illicit cash into "clean" cryptocurrency.

A critical discovery in the investigation is George Rossi's acquisition of a bank in Kyrgyzstan. Through his company, Altair Holding SA, Rossi secured a 75% stake in Keremet Bank on Christmas Day 2024. Further probes revealed that Keremet Bank was facilitating payments for Promsvyazbank (PSB), a Russian state-owned bank described by the US Treasury as a "sanctions evasion hub." This arrangement allowed Keremet Bank to assist PSB in funding "Russia's military-industrial base," effectively channeling money to arms factories producing weapons for the conflict in Ukraine. Anti-money laundering experts describe this as a novel sanctions evasion model, where criminals “become a bank instead of using a bank” to maintain full control over financial infrastructure and circumvent safeguards.

The laundered funds directly support a range of malign Russian activities. Beyond financing the military-industrial complex, profits are used for Russian intelligence projects, military operations, and state-backed organizations circumventing international sanctions. Notably, the Smart network, under Ekaterina Zhdanova, provided financial services to a ring of spies led by Bulgarian Orlin Roussev, who tracked Russia's enemies across Europe. Zhdanova, a glamorous Siberian millionaire, is now in custody in France awaiting trial, having also laundered money for the Irish Kinahan drugs cartel.

The methods used by these networks to move criminal cash are diverse and often clandestine. Funds are sometimes consolidated in "stash houses" and smuggled out of the country hidden in everyday items like washing powder and baby formula. Other schemes include individuals such as Valeriy Popovych and Vitaliy Lutsak, who were convicted this year for laundering £6 million by purchasing vehicles in the UK and selling them in Ukraine for cryptocurrency, exploiting the ongoing conflict for illicit gains. Former footballer James Keatings, along with Semen Kuksov and Andrii Dzektsa, were identified by the NCA as laundering money for the Kinahan cartel. Giorgi Tabatadze was sentenced to three years for laundering £2.2 million.

The NCA, under Deputy Director for Economic Crime Sal Melki, is aggressively targeting the network from all angles. Operation Destabilise has led to 45 arrests of suspected money launderers and the seizure of over £5 million in cash within the past 12 months. Mr. Melki emphasizes the stark reality: "We can draw a thread between somebody buying cocaine on a Friday night in the UK, all the way through to geopolitical events that are causing suffering across the world." He stresses that laundering street cash is "critical to underpinning how serious crime works in our country."

In a unique effort to reach lower-level operatives, the NCA has placed adverts in UK motorway service station toilets, in both Russian and English. These warnings directly address couriers who move criminal cash, highlighting the severe consequences, prison sentences of five years or more, for what might seem like easy money. "We're communicating with them directly in their own language to say: the walls are closing in. We know who you are, and we're coming for you," Mr. Melki stated, reinforcing the agency's commitment to dismantling this expansive and dangerous criminal enterprise.