Sanctions to Russia is expanding including their crypto access. The penalties have also affected the crypto space, and Russians are finding it harder to cash out their digital holdings.
Now, it bacame really hard for Russians that invested in crypto to withdraw their funds and convert them into fiat money. Russian citizenship now worries foreign regulators, money is being blocked, and new accounts are denied.
This made Russia see the need to have their own Crypto market. There are still no news whether they will proceed to create their own.