The Financial Times reported a recent vacancy posted on a Russian recruitment site, for a project manager to build a business “from scratch” in Togo, west Africa.
The employer, A7, is a Russian cryptocurrency network under western sanctions, run by fugitive Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor and Russian defense sector lender Promsvyazbank (PSB).
The advert is the latest sign that Moscow is building an alternative payments system to trade with its international allies after its banks were cut off by the West in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
A7 opened an office in Nigeria last autumn, videos showed, and the network has also announced a new branch in Zimbabwe.
What is the A7 network?
Cryptocurrencies can mitigate the impact of sanctions because of their accessibility and liquidity. They can bypass parts of banking systems and create export and import schemes that can be repeatedly reconfigured.
This keeps the rouble flowing around the world while creating an alternative financial system to that of the West, from which Russian banks have been cut off from since 2022.
“Originally, our international payment platform was conceived as a response to illegally imposed international sanctions,” A7 founder Shor said last autumn when announcing the new Lagos and Harare offices.
“But, as practice has shown, this mechanism has proven to be very effective and convenient. That is why other countries have expressed interest and requested to use our system,” he was quoted as saying by Russian media outlet Lenta.
