Territorial dispute and a ‘shadow’ market shake-up: how the crackdown on crypto dealers at Gorbushka sparked internal conflict in the FSB

06 сентября 2026 г., 18:51

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Territorial dispute and a ‘shadow’ market shake-up: how the crackdown on crypto dealers at Gorbushka sparked internal conflict in the FSB

Journalists reported on a conflict between the Federal Security Service (FSB) for Moscow and the Moscow Region and the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation. It is related to activities at crypto exchanges and payment systems in Gorbushka and Moscow-City.

According to the source, the events were carried out primarily by Ministry of Internal Affairs officers, but they were all coordinated by the FSB’s Directorate for Economic Security, which also organized the operations. As a result, cryptocurrency exchange services are currently completely absent from Gorbushka. This service has been frozen there. In Moscow City, 15 exchangers and payment systems were "bombed."

All of their employees were detained. But most were later released. The owner of one of the crypto exchanges, Andrey Belousov, was placed in custody, and three of his employees were placed under house arrest. "Belousov has been known in the market for over 20 years," a source noted. Andrey Belousov is accused of illegal banking activities. Sergey Mendeleev, the founder of the main laundering platforms, Garantex and ABCEX, called the arrested man a "teacher" and "an elder statesman in crypto."

Following the security forces’ operation, cryptocurrency exchange in Moscow City itself was frozen for approximately 7-10 days. Operations continued on the street from cash-in-transit vehicles.

Officially, the events took place as part of two separate criminal cases. The source notes that before the operations, there was a story that caused a stir in the market. One of the exchangers scammed clients out of 600 million rubles, and the son of the Kyrgyz president was allegedly among the victims. Therefore, some market participants associate the events with this scam.

In any case, according to the source, the leadership of the FSB’s Economic Security Service for Moscow and the surrounding region expressed serious concerns about the events. The official reason was that the FSB’s long-running operational and intelligence work on the currency exchange offices at Gorbushka and Moscow-City had been disrupted. The reality, of course, is different...

Our sources say the conflict is escalating. We’re monitoring developments.