Source: Heart of Computing Power

On February 23, 2025, the Chinese Consulate in Russia once again reminded Chinese citizens in Russia,

to pay attention to President Putin's Presidential Order No. 821.

This decree presents a very real "death choice" for Chinese miners in Russia:

Either give up residency status or go serve in the military first.

If you want to legally stay and make rubles, you might first have to visit a combat zone.

The decree is quite clear:

Foreign males aged 18 to 65 who wish to apply for long-term residence permits in Russia must agree to serve at least 1 year in Russian military units.

Once, miners went to Siberia for cheap electricity, but now, before they can even recoup their investment in mining machines, they might be treated as "consumables."

Now, those prospectors with computing power worth millions, will they be able to escape unscathed?

1. The Dead Loop of Compliance, Wanting Legality Means First Serving in the Army

Many miners going to Russia feel that they are simply transient money-makers, with the frontline's gunfire having nothing to do with them.

However, since last year, a trap specifically targeting foreign miners has quietly been laid out.

Step one, "Luring the Snake Out of Its Hole."

In 2024, Russia officially legalized cryptocurrency mining, which briefly became a paradise for miners.

But the prerequisite is,

individuals or companies with high electricity consumption must join the official "Miner Registration List," reporting wallet addresses and income transparently.

Failure to report would mean facing hefty fines and confiscation of equipment.

This maneuver forces all miners wanting to earn legally and stably to voluntarily submit their names and details.

And once the details are submitted, the next step is a logical progression.

Step two, "Identity Lockdown."

As a foreigner, if you want to legally register for large-scale mining,

you must have either a long-term residence permit or a registered address in Russia.

And this is precisely the most dangerous part of the whole scheme.

Step three, "Striking the Snake's Vital Point."

In 2025, with the implementation of Presidential Order No. 821, the application rules for long-term residence permits changed completely.

You must either submit a military service contract with the Russian army or provide proof of your ineligibility for service.

This move directly strikes a large number of foreign male practitioners going to Russia for mining—

they initially hoped to register as individual entrepreneurs or companies to obtain long-term residence, but now this route is blocked.

The loop is thus locked down.

If you want to mine legally, you must register under your real name;

to register, you need to secure a residence permit;

to obtain a residence permit, you must be ready to go to the front lines at any time.

First, you are lured out with the bait of legalization, then heavy punishment pressures you to comply, and finally, with a residence permit, you are transformed into a potential source of soldiers.

You might think you are taking machines to mine Bitcoin, but in the eyes of wartime machinery, you are just that "mine."

2. Countdown to Holding and "Running Signature"

Since obtaining long-term residency carries risks, can we operate in the gray area relying on a business visa to "make a hit-and-run"?

The answer is no, this route is being thoroughly closed off.

In the past, many miners took advantage of "exiting every 90 days," even finding locals to hold mining sites for them.

But starting in 2025, Russia has been taking severe measures against people, behaviors, and assets, one by one.

First, immigration control has come down hard on individuals.

The "Controlled Persons Registry" that came into effect in February 2025 in Russia is very precise,

if there are issues with your visa, bank accounts are immediately controlled, and even daily spending has a very low limit.

More crucially, police can detain individuals without court approval and initiate deportation procedures within 48 hours.

Mining with a business visa essentially amounts to illegal work, and at any time, you might become the next person to be expelled.

Next, the definition of legal behavior has changed.

According to the draft amendments to the criminal law in December 2025, illegal mining could face up to 5 years in prison and hefty fines.

Previously, it was at most considered a violation; henceforth it will be regarded as a criminal offense,

the living space in the gray area is being crushed inch by inch by legal provisions.

Next, assets are being targeted.

In February 2026, Putin further signed a new law allowing courts to directly confiscate mining equipment and Bitcoin involved in the case.

The Nasdaq-listed company The9 once stated: Russia might "nationalize and confiscate the assets of foreign enterprises under specific circumstances."

In Russia, it doesn't matter whose name the machines are under; as long as they are suspected of being illegal, they will all be confiscated.

Moreover, you cannot hide at all.

Starting at the end of 2024, Russia's power grid has built a "heaven-and-earth integrated" inspection network.

In the air, thermal imaging drones lock onto targets precisely; on the ground, AI meters monitor in real-time; at the terminals, intelligent algorithms identify proactively.

Just in Dagestan alone, from January to November 2025, 73 cases of electricity theft mining were detected, causing losses of 85.7 million rubles.

People, behaviors, assets, hiding places— all four paths are blocked.

The window of quietly mining using visa loopholes is closing.

3. The National Machinery Wants Energy, Not Computing Power

To take a step back, even if you secure your identity and survive the risks of holding, there’s not enough electricity to mine in Russia anymore.

After the domestic crackdown on mining in 2021, Siberia in Russia, with its naturally low temperatures and cheap electricity, became a refuge for global miners.

Russia's largest mining company, BitRiver, started here and at its peak managed 175,000 mining machines.

During those years, as long as there was electricity and guts, money would follow.

But the power grid can’t sustain it anymore.

By the end of 2024, the mining army consumed 1.5% of Russia's electricity nationwide, with many power grids on the verge of overload.

Aging infrastructure needs maintenance, and the heating for ordinary citizens must not be interrupted; in regions of Russia not connected to gas, electric heating is the most affordable way to keep warm in winter, so these “power hogs” naturally became the first targets for cuts.

From 2025 onward, the bans have been falling thick and fast.

Several regions in the North Caucasus and Siberia have been completely cut off from electricity or subject to seasonal limitations, and even BitRiver couldn't withstand it.

However, it wasn't the price of Bitcoin that crushed it, but the combination of legal debt collection, account freezes, and regional power limitations.

As for foreign miners without local connections,

under the triple strangulation of "identity threshold (military service contract + controlled persons registry) + energy regulation + asset confiscation,"

they will only be the first to be sacrificed.

The window period for wild growth relying on cheap electricity and guts has already closed.

In the face of hard policies, computing power is merely code that can have its network cable pulled at any time.

When everyone withdrew from China in 2021, everyone was betting on the same thing:

With the sky high and the emperor far away, having electricity would mean survival.

Four years have passed, and the facts have provided another answer.

You can outrun a country's regulation, but you cannot outrun another country's conscription order.

In the story of global miner migration, this chapter on Russia is coming to a close.

For those who haven't withdrawn yet, the time window left for them is not much anymore.