Russia could face electricity disruptions if the government doesn't get crypto mining under control, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

Crypto is often used by Russians who live abroad to bypass Western sanctions which prevent them from accessing normal banking services. It's also been used to make donations to Russian military units.

“It is necessary to make the right and timely decisions, in particular systemic ones, at the level of the federal law," Putin said. "I have already given instructions to regulate the mining of digital currencies in Russia, including issues of taxation of this activity and tariff decisions."

New enterprises and residential districts will face electricity shortages if cryptocurrency mining farms take over all the free energy capacity, and investment projects will be put on pause, Putin added, per Ria news agency.

His claim came the same day Russia was forced to introduce electricity cutoffs in several regions due to a glitch at the Rostov nuclear power plant.

Crypto mining is extremely energy-intensive, causing electricity supply challenges even in energy giants like Russia and the United States. Russia ranks third in the world in crypto-mining capabilities.

The energy consumption of all crypto assets combined is between 0.4 percent and 0.9 percent of annual global electricity usage, or from 120 to 240 billion kilowatt-hours per year. That's more energy than the world's data centers use combined, Canadian energy company Just Energy has reported. Over two percent of US energy now goes toward crypto mining.

Last year, Russian military units in Ukraine together received more than $1.8 million in donations via cryptocurrency, CoinDesk has reported.  

The U.S. sanctioned 13 entities for helping Russia bypass international sanctions through virtual asset services and technology procurement in March.

This article has been updated.