LONDON–A multi-billion-dollar, supposedly “sanctions-proof” international payment system backed by the Kremlin and sanctioned by the West, has been associated with a business in downtown Budapest – staffed by a Latvian go-karting enthusiast – since December 2024.
Leaked documents corroborated by reporter.london with open-source reporting suggest there is a risk that Hungarian company MiddleAsiaTrade House kft, whose address is opposite Budapest’s majestic Keleti train station, could have been used to facilitate euro payments by Russian importers as part of the sanctioned Russian payment system A7.
MiddleAsiaTrade House kft did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
By its own account, A7 has moved billions of dollars for Russian clients since its launch in late 2024, drawing sanctions from the UK, US and EU as the West seeks to shut down the Kremlin’s jurisdiction-hopping alternative payment networks.
Together with Romanian investigative publication Context.ro, reporter.london revealed in September how A7 had expanded and professionalised its operations to resemble a crypto-based merchant bank, staffed with dozens of experienced financiers, and even an in-house psychologist.
Alongside sanctions-busting payments, documents and media reporting have also revealed the role of A7 in the Kremlin’s campaign to swing the Moldovan parliamentary election this September, which was won comfortably by the pro-Western incumbents.
Now the latest collaboration of reporter.london and Context.ro can reveal that A7 told prospective clients it could make euro payments inside the European Union using a Hungarian subsidiary of a Kyrgyz state-owned company, according to a leaked presentation.
The state-owned company named in the presentation is the Trading Company of the Kyrgyz Republic (TCKR). It was set up by Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Economy in August 2024, and is meant to facilitate and monitor trade payments made by Kyrgyz companies – but not for goods entering Kyrgyzstan.
Our research has established that TCKR only owns one company in Hungary: MiddleAsiaTrade House kft, which was incorporated in December 2024. Aside from the leaked presentation from A7, reporter.london has found no evidence of MiddleAsiaTrade kft making payments for Russian clients, and MiddleAsiaTrade kft is not explicitly named in the leaked documents from A7. Hungary-based researchers have confirmed for reporter.london that it is the only Hungarian company owned by this Kyrgyz entity.
A leaked A7 payment scheme indicates that TCKR may act as an internal settlement hub for the international payment network based between Russia and Kyrgyzstan, sitting at the centre of a network of business entities that move money globally on behalf of A7.
“I believe that A7 utilises the Trading Company as a Kyrgyz state-owned façade, allowing Russian importers to appear to settle their obligations domestically via promissory notes,” Kristine Baghdasaryan, researcher at Transparency International – Russia, told reporter.london. “At the same time, real payments are quietly executed abroad through Kyrgyz and offshore shell companies.”
The documents suggest TCKR accepts promissory note obligations from A7 subsidiaries in Russia, and then settles those back in Russia, with a Russian bank account at Promsvyazbank (PSB), a sanctioned Kremlin-owned lender which owns 49% of A7.
TCKR also transfers PSB funds on to a range of companies in Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates, which then pay out to A7 clients in different currencies, according to the documents.
The A7 client presentation seen by reporter.london claimed that TCKR had facilitated more than $18.4bn worth of payments (1.4 trillion rubles) for A7’s Russian clients between its launch in September 2024 and April 2025. The figure cited in the presentation could not be verified.
The website of the Trading Company of the Kyrgyz Republic stopped working, as did its publicly advertised email address, following a leak of internal documents from A7 in early September 2025.
reporter.london contacted TCKR, and its parent organisation, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Economy, for comment, but was referred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which did not respond to detailed questions either.
The UK sanctioned the director of TCKR in August as part of a package targeting A7 and Kyrgyzstan’s payment infrastructure facilitating Russian payments, including one of the Central Asian country’s major banks.
“These sanctions keep up the pressure on Putin at a critical time and crack down on the illicit networks being used to funnel money into his war chest,” UK sanctions minister Stephen Doughty said at the time in a media release.
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov countered this view, saying that there was no basis for the UK and US sanctions against Kyrgyz banks, and that Kyrgyzstan was assisting Western states in combatting sanctions evasion.
MiddleAsiaTrade House – whose company name can be found on a document listing over 100 companies pasted outside its official address in Budapest – filed for liquidation on 17 October this year, at a time when the EU was pushing for sanctions on the A7 network. The EU added several entities and people in the A7 network to its sanctions list in October. Media reports cited briefings from EU officials that the sanctions on A7 were being considered as of 6 October.
MiddleAsiaTrade House lists its business purpose as wholesale trade, including textiles, glassware, perfume, furniture, medicine, machine tools and other goods.
Its director is a Latvian citizen in his 50s who represented Latvia in an international competition for pickleball – a trending sport that combines ping-pong, tennis and badminton. The individual is also a go-karting hobbyist, our journalistic research has established.
reporter.london could not determine whether the director was aware that MiddleAsiaTrade House may have been utilised by A7. He did not return multiple requests for comment via phone and email.
reporter.london also made several approaches to MiddleAsiaTrade House’s company secretary for comment, but although they appear to have seen our messages, they did not respond.
Proxy service
Over the past year, Kyrgyzstan has emerged as a crucial jurisdiction for Russia’s A7 payment system. A sanctioned Kyrgyz company issues the A7A5 stablecoin, which is part of A7, and is backed by deposits at PSB. Dozens of Kyrgyz companies may also act as pay agents on behalf of A7, according to leaked documents.
In response to the latest round of sanctions by the EU, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry invited Brussels to carry out an international audit into allegations of sanctions evasion.
In September, Moldovan news agency IPN reported that Kyrgyz president Sadyr Japarov is allegedly using a private jet bought by Ilan Shor, the sanctioned Moldovan-Israeli tycoon behind A7. Neither Japarov, nor Shor have commented on the IPN investigation.
“Kyrgyzstan has become a key ‘jurisdictional proxy’ for Russia, lending its corporate infrastructure to Russian payment schemes,” said Baghdasaryan. “Because Kyrgyz banks and companies are not subject to Western sanctions, A7 can pass value through Kyrgyzstan without scrutiny.”
A7 did not respond to requests for comment.
The head of the A7A5 stablecoin, Leonid Shumakov, told the Financial Times in June that A7 had chosen Kyrgyzstan because it is a “friendly jurisdiction that is not subject to sanctions.”
“It is no secret that this jurisdiction is currently helping a lot to cope with the pressure [Russia] is under,” Shumakov added. reporter.london contacted Shumakov via Telegram for comment, but he did not respond.
Speaking at the Moscow Financial Forum in September, Shor gave two reasons behind the rise of A7, including its move into new markets such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Latin American states.
“First, the global banking system is politicised,” Shor said. “Second, over the years, the international compliance system has become objectively unbearable for probably 30-40% of businesses.”
Whether or not TCKR’s Hungarian subsidiary is found to have made payments for A7, relations between Budapest and Bishkek have been warming. The Kyrgyz government recently drew praise from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, eager to find new allies in his “anti-war coalition”, for its “pro-peace” stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Hungary’s Foreign Minister noted that Central Asia’s importance had grown “as a result of changes in global politics and the world economy.” On 17 October, Hungary and Kyrgyzstan announced a 2026-2028 roadmap to expand cooperation across trade, investment and culture.
Thomas Rowley is a journalist and editor specialising in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus. His work has appeared in outlets such as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Byline Times, Moscow Times and Private Eye. Between 2015 and 2024, he was lead editor for the post-Soviet space at openDemocracy. He can be contacted on LinkedIn here.
Thanks also, as usual, to the mighty B.M. who cast his sharp editor’s eye on this piece before publication.