Moscow merchants transferred money to China through the A7 network

The A7 payment system, created in collaboration with the Russian state-owned defense bank PSB, processed at least 283 metric tons of rubles in cash totaling more than $14 billion between November 2024 and July 2025. A significant portion of these funds came from Moscow’s wholesale markets. This is according to a joint investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the publication “Proekt,” which is based on a leak of the company’s internal documents.

A7 was founded in 2024 by entities linked to Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor and Promsvyazbank. The company offers Russian businesses a way to conduct international transactions while circumventing Western sanctions. On October 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury added A7 to its sanctions list as a transnational criminal organization. The company was accused of money laundering and illegal transfers of large sums. The payment system denies these allegations.

In late 2024, A7 brought intermediaries into its network who had been serving merchants in Moscow’s markets for many years. During its first six weeks of operation in late 2024, approximately 126 billion rubles in cash passed through the system. In June 2025, the monthly transaction volume reached 250 billion rubles, which amounted to at least 58 metric tons of cash.

One of the main sources of cash for A7 was the Moscow “Sadovod” market, which covers an area of 65 hectares. According to the company’s internal documents, at least eight groups of payment intermediaries operate on the market’s premises. They receive bags of cash from merchants, along with instructions to pay for foreign shipments. According to an ICIJ source, these intermediaries’ offices are located near the market’s administration building.

This is reported by Russian propaganda media.

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