Alexander Browder, 17, is thought to be the youngest person ever sanctioned by the Kremlin. He and four other British nationals have been banned from entering the country, with Russia’s foreign ministry accusing him of circulating defamatory falsehoods about the Russian authorities.

Browder, who learnt of the sanctions during an economics lesson, authored a report exposing how funds were laundered via the A7A5 cryptocurrency to finance Russia’s war on Ukraine.

He also advised the UK government on last week’s sanctions package targeting the Kremlin-backed “A7 network”. He said the move only proved his work was “having the right effects”, adding that Russia’s war was sustained “not only with tanks and missiles” but with money, The Times reports.

He is the son of Bill Browder, the human-rights campaigner who pioneered the global Magnitsky Act. The teenager said fighting atrocities was “in my genetics” and that the travel ban would not affect his work.

His report, published by the Henry Jackson Society, found that A7A5 – a rouble-pegged stablecoin launched in Kyrgyzstan – was a critical tool for sanctions evasion and money laundering. The network claimed to have moved more than $90 billion last year.