PANews reported on March 6 that according to Cointelegraph, Tether has frozen about 28 million USDT, involving the Russian crypto exchange Garantex, which is sanctioned by the EU and the U.S. Affected by this, Garantex has suspended all transactions and withdrawals, and announced on its official website that all USDT assets in Russian wallets are at risk.

This action follows the 16th round of sanctions against Russia issued by the European Union on February 26. Garantex was included in the list due to its close relationship with sanctioned Russian banks. The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on it as early as April 2022. Garantex responded that it will continue to fight, but did not disclose subsequent countermeasures.