The chairman of the Ukrainian parliament says he has sent an appeal to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) asking it to include Russia on its list of high-risk jurisdictions, often referred to as the global watchdog’s black list.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, who is also the parliament’s speaker, is expected to succeed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky if he is killed in a Russian strike or assassination attempt. Zelensky has survived three assassination attempts in recent days.
Basis for blacklisting
“As long as the Russian Federation continues to finance terrorism at the state level, the system for preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism of this state de facto does not work. This is the basis for adding the Russian Federation to the FATF blacklist,” a post on Stefanchuk’s Facebook page says.
Stefanchuk is also calling on the FATF to remove Russia from its list of member countries as soon as possible.
Russia review
The FATF has already described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a “gross violation” of standards committed to by members of the FATF and has said it will “consider what future steps are necessary to uphold these core values.” (Trade-based Financial Crime, 7 March 2022, Russia’s role in FATF under review amidst growing money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing risks)
Iran and North Korea are currently the only countries blacklisted by FATF for their significant strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and financing of proliferation.
Categories: Trade Based Financial crimes News
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