Being the intergovernmental organization, fighting against financing of terrorism and laundering of money, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will make a decision whether to include Russia in its blacklist next week. Being included in a FATF gray or black list may undermine financial reputation of a state and may be regarded as detrimental to its economy.
Although the FATF has stated that it considers the Russian invasion of Ukraine unacceptable, contradicting its core principles, it has not lowered the ranking of Russia yet. Ukraine asked for the nomination of Russia among the high-risk jurisdictions in April 2022 and has unsuccessfully provided the FATF authorities with new evidence to decrease the rating of Moscow. Ukraine will have to convince an internal body of the FATF to propose downgrading Russia in the latest round of meetings.
The document provided to members by Ukraine underlines the close military and financial cooperation between the Russian Federation and other high-risk states, for example, Iran and North Korea. Moreover, the document emphasizes on funding of the Wagner Group and other illegal organizations by Russia. It also mentions the role cryptocurrencies and Telegram channels play in Russian facilitation of financing terrorist activities and laundering of money obtained from products stolen in the course of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
