U.K. authorities have placed crypto exchange HTX under sanctions, citing “reasonable grounds to suspect” the platform may have supported Russia through alleged ties to the ruble-linked stablecoin A7A5.

HTX has rejected the claims, insisting it had no role in enabling Russia’s “illicit financial infrastructure” used to move funds and sustain its war in Ukraine. The exchange said it declined a listing request from A7A5 after completing internal compliance checks.

“A7A5 sought to list its stablecoin on HTX, but the application was rejected following a thorough due diligence and risk assessment process,” an HTX spokesperson told CoinDesk.

The stablecoin is issued by A7 LLC, an entity already sanctioned by several Western governments.

In its sanctions notice released Tuesday, the U.K. Foreign Office did not provide detailed evidence of cooperation between HTX and A7A5. Instead, it said HTX was suspected of assisting A7, which it described as operating in a sector of strategic importance to the Russian state.

Oleg Ogienko, an executive at A7A5, confirmed the company had approached several centralized exchanges, including HTX, in pursuit of listings.

“We reached out to major centralized exchanges months ago, but most rejected us quickly due to concerns over secondary sanctions,” Ogienko said.

He added that A7A5 has since shifted its focus toward decentralized finance infrastructure, reducing reliance on centralized trading venues.

“Our model no longer depends on listings from centralized exchanges,” Ogienko said, while noting the company remains open to future collaboration if exchanges seek to expand trading activity.

Ogienko also maintained that A7A5 adheres to regulatory frameworks in Kyrgyzstan and Russia, as well as standards set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global watchdog for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing.