The National Crime Agency (NCA) has issued a stark warning that purchasing cocaine on a Friday night in Britain can indirectly finance Russian arms factories, fund espionage operations, and support a vast global money-laundering network. This sprawling criminal ecosystem, known as Operation Destabilise, is described as fueling significant illicit activities worldwide, with direct links to Russia’s war machine and intelligence operations.

At the core of this network are two major money-laundering organisations: TGR, headed by Russian businessman George Rossi, and Smart, operated by Siberian millionaire Ekaterina Zhdanova. These groups offer a full suite of laundering services, enabling criminals such as drug traffickers and illegal firearm suppliers to convert illicit cash into cryptocurrency. Active in at least 28 towns and cities across the UK, they maintain an entire financial architecture that allows serious crime to thrive, trading “billions of pounds of criminal wealth” within Britain.

A crucial breakthrough for investigators was the discovery of George Rossi’s acquisition of a bank in Kyrgyzstan. Through his company, Altair Holding SA, Rossi obtained a 75% stake in Keremet Bank on Christmas Day 2024. Further investigation showed that Keremet Bank was facilitating payments for Promsvyazbank (PSB), a Russian state-owned bank designated by the US Treasury as a “sanctions evasion hub.” According to the NCA, Keremet Bank played a direct role in enabling PSB to make payments for Russia’s military-industrial base, aiding the production of weapons used in the conflict in Ukraine.

The criminal network’s influence stretches far beyond military financing. The Smart network, led by Ekaterina Zhdanova, also provided financial services to an espionage ring led by Bulgarian national Orlin Roussev, who tracked Russia’s enemies across Europe. Zhdanova is currently in custody in France awaiting trial, while Rossi’s Altair Holding SA was sanctioned in Britain in August after its ownership of Keremet Bank was linked to sanctions evasion activities. The network has also laundered money for notorious criminal organisations, including the Irish Kinahan drugs cartel.

The methods used for laundering are both varied and sophisticated. In addition to converting cash into cryptocurrency, the networks wash money through cash-rich businesses such as construction firms or hide it in “stash houses” before smuggling it out of the country. Tactics have included concealing cash in seemingly harmless items like boxes of washing powder and baby formula. Convicted criminals Valeriy Popovych and Vitaliy Lutsak exploited the Russia-Ukraine war by buying vehicles in the UK, driving them to Ukraine, and selling them for cryptocurrency, laundering an estimated £6.63 million in dirty cash between August 2022 and June 2023. Another courier, Giorgi Tabatadze, received a three-year prison sentence for laundering £2.2 million.

Through Operation Destabilise, the NCA is aggressively targeting and dismantling this network. Over the past 12 months, the agency has arrested 45 suspected money launderers and seized more than £5 million in cash. It has also taken steps to warn couriers who transport criminal cash around the UK. Adverts printed in English and Russian have been placed in motorway service station toilets, warning that “moving money for organised criminals might seem like easy work, but it ends with hard time,” underscoring the high-risk, low-reward nature of the job. Security Minister Dan Jarvis praised the operation, noting that it has exposed corrupt Russian strategies to evade sanctions and finance its illegal war.

Sal Melki, the NCA’s Deputy Director for Economic Crime, emphasised the gravity of the situation: “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 added that “laundering street cash is critical to how serious crime functions in our country,” stressing that everyday decisions made by individuals can fuel global harm, ultimately supporting “really bad things all around the world.”