Ukraine urges russia’s expulsion from anti-money laundering organization

The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine calls on Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) to exclude Russia from the organization and blacklist it.

Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko said this during the discussion entitled "How to counteract russia's threats to global financial security", reports the press service of the Ministry of Finance.

"Putin's russia is making a mockery of the rules-based international order with its aggressive invasion of Ukraine, toxic support for corruption, and documented financing of terrorism," Marchenko said.

In order to protect and strengthen the global financial system in the long term, the finance minister called on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to exclude russia from the organization and blacklist it.

"This is perhaps the most effective tool for limiting terrorist access to the global economy, as it forces all states to scrutinize any transaction involving the financial system of a blacklisted jurisdiction. This will significantly increase the cost of doing business with russia and will actually deprive putin of the opportunity to finance this illegal aggressive war," Marchenko noted.

The Ministry of Finance notes that FATF members will meet in Paris this month to consider further measures against russia on a symbolic date – exactly one year after the russian invasion of Ukraine. The Ministry of Finance and the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine systematically take measures to isolate russia in the sphere of financial monitoring and call on other states to provide assistance in this process and support the final exclusion of russia from the FATF and its inclusion in the black list.

For reference:

The State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine (SFMS) is an authority authorized by Ukraine to perform the functions of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and is the national center for receiving and analyzing: suspicious transaction reports, other information related to money laundering, related predicate offenses, terrorist financing and financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

In connection with the military actions of the russian federation against Ukraine, the FATF terminated russia's participation in all governing bodies of the organization and removed it from any management decisions. FATF is an international organization with headquarters in Paris. Its purpose is the development and implementation at the international level of anti-money laundering measures and standards. russia joined the FATF in 2003.