On the surface, a Friday night drug deal in a British city might seem like a local problem—one for the police or perhaps the courts. But, as recent revelations from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) have shown, the consequences of such transactions can ripple across continents, fueling military conflicts and propping up hostile foreign regimes. In a sweeping investigation dubbed Operation Destabilise, the NCA has pulled back the curtain on a billion-dollar money laundering network that connects street-level crime in the UK to the heart of Russia’s war machine.
According to the NCA, cash generated from Britain’s drug trade was funneled through a sophisticated laundering operation involving two major networks—SMART and TGR. These groups didn’t just shuffle money between accounts; they acquired real-world assets, including a controlling stake in Keremet Bank in Kyrgyzstan. This bank, now sanctioned by both the UK and the United States, became a crucial conduit for payments helping Russia’s state-owned Promsvyazbank (PSB) evade international sanctions and support the country’s military-industrial complex, especially as the war in Ukraine grinds on.
Sal Melki, the NCA’s deputy director for economic crime, put it bluntly in a briefing with journalists: “We can draw a really clear thread between somebody buying some cocaine on a Friday night all the way through to geopolitical events that are causing suffering across the world.” As reported by Recorded Future News and The Independent, Melki emphasized that the agency’s investigation has revealed the complete monetary chain—from cash collected on British streets to the global illicit finance networks supporting transnational drug traffickers, cybercriminals, and state-linked actors.
The scale of the operation is staggering. Operation Destabilise has identified laundering activity in at least 28 UK towns and cities, with couriers—often young, male, and Russian-speaking—collecting bundles of cash for rapid conversion into cryptocurrency. These “cash to crypto” swaps are at the heart of the global laundering system, allowing criminal proceeds from drugs, firearms, and organized immigration crimes to be moved invisibly across borders.
Since December 2024, the NCA has arrested over 100 suspects connected to the investigation, with more than £25 million ($32 million) seized in cash and cryptocurrency in the UK alone. International partners have seized a further $24 million and over €2.6 million based on intelligence from the operation. In total, there have been 128 arrests as a result of Operation Destabilise, a figure that underscores the breadth of the network.
Among those caught in the agency’s net are Valeriy Popovych and Vitaliy Lutsak, two Ukrainian nationals sentenced in April 2025 to a combined 13 years for laundering £6 million ($7.8 million) by purchasing vehicles in Britain, selling them in Ukraine, and converting the profits to cryptocurrency. Giorgi Tabatadze, another courier, handled £2.2 million. Investigators say that targeting these couriers has been a key focus, as they are “sustaining an entire architecture that allows crime to pay in our country,” in Melki’s words.
To disrupt recruitment, the NCA has launched a targeted campaign—placing warnings in both English and Russian in motorway service stations, especially in lavatories frequented by couriers. The message is direct: “For a few hundred quid, there is a very good chance you could be going to prison for over 5 years,” Melki told The Independent. The campaign aims to deter would-be couriers by highlighting the severe risks compared to the relatively small financial reward.
But the laundering networks are far from simple. SMART, led by Ekaterina Zhdanova (currently in pre-trial detention in France), Khadzi-Murat Magomedov, and Nikita Krasnov, and TGR, headed by George Rossi, Elena Chirkinyan, and Andrejs Bradens, have laundered funds for a who’s who of international criminals. Their clients range from cybercriminals and drug traffickers to firearms smugglers and even state-controlled media like Russia Today. The US sanctioned all six leaders in late 2024, and the UK followed suit, targeting entities like Altair Holding SA (linked to Rossi) after it purchased a 75% stake in Keremet Bank on Christmas Day 2024.
Keremet Bank’s role was pivotal. According to the NCA, it facilitated cross-border payments for Promsvyazbank, a Russian state-owned institution that supports companies in Russia’s military industry. By providing Moscow with a financial vehicle outside the reach of Western regulators, the laundering network enabled PSB to bypass sanctions and quietly acquire components for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Altair’s acquisition of Keremet Bank was part of a broader effort to exploit Kyrgyz financial systems and crypto networks, as highlighted by the UK’s August 2025 sanctions announcement.
The tentacles of the laundering operation reached even further. The networks provided concierge-style services for Russian elites living in the West, offering cash and liquidity to individuals frozen out of mainstream banking by sanctions. The NCA also traced some of the laundered funds to the purchase of vans and lorries in Britain, which were then sold in Ukraine—profits again converted to cryptocurrency and funneled into the laundering system.
The investigation has exposed not only the criminal ingenuity of these networks but also their willingness to serve state interests. Operation Destabilise uncovered links to a spy ring imprisoned in Britain in May 2025: six Bulgarian nationals sentenced to a combined 50 years for surveilling targets selected by Russian intelligence services, including Ukrainian troops training in Germany and journalists critical of Moscow. The spies were allegedly run by Jan Marsalek, the fugitive former Wirecard executive believed to be working for both Russia’s GRU and FSB and now thought to be hiding in Russia.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis didn’t mince words about the broader implications. “This complex operation has exposed the corrupt tactics Russia used to avoid sanctions and fund its illegal war in Ukraine. We are working tirelessly to detect, disrupt, and prosecute anyone engaging in activity for a hostile foreign state. It will never be tolerated on our streets,” he said, as quoted by The Independent and Recorded Future News.
For Melki and his team, the fight is far from over. “The NCA has inflicted a serious wound on these organisations… but we know we’ve got to sustain the pressure,” he explained, adding, “If you can’t launder your ill-gotten gains, then why bother? These people sustain an entire architecture that allows crime to pay in our country.”
As Operation Destabilise continues, the NCA and its international partners are working to further dismantle the laundering networks’ reach. The agency’s success so far is a testament to the interconnectedness of modern crime—and a stark reminder that local actions can have global consequences.
