In Ukraine, the military caught a separatist miner

Yesterday, fighters of the Joint Forces Operation prevented the removal of expensive mining equipment through the Novotroitskoye checkpoint.

A resident of Mariupol, traveling on foot to Donetsk, was subjected to a search of his personal belongings in accordance with the order of the commander of the Joint Forces. 

The border patrol of the State Border Service of Ukraine, together with employees of the DFS of Ukraine, during the inspection of a citizen’s personal belongings, discovered components for mining equipment. According to the offender, he planned to start mining cryptocurrency for additional income. The power supply and video card were seized from the violator under protocol and an administrative case was initiated.

This is not the first time that crypto enthusiasts are trying to bring expensive mining equipment to uncontrolled territories. At the end of May, at the Gnutovo checkpoint, during an inspection of a Skoda car, mining equipment worth 122,000 hryvnia was seized. According to the detainee, he planned to use the equipment for “small earnings.”

The activities of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies to expose the mechanism of financing the self-proclaimed republics through cryptocurrency transactions apparently forced crypto enthusiasts to move mining farms to the occupied territories.

In February of this year, law enforcement officers uncovered mining farms organized by separatists in Kyiv and Cherkassy. SBU officers managed to track the smuggling route of mining equipment from Russia and establish that the mined cryptocurrency was intended to finance illegal groups on the territory of the DPR/LPR and Internet resources conducting anti-Ukrainian propaganda.