The decision of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FAFT) to suspend Russia’s membership could lead to a worsening of the situation in the world in the fight against money laundering, terrorism financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, said Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov. In his opinion, the decision is politicized.
“The administration refuses to understand that the suspension of Russia’s participation in FAFT is a dangerous step that actually leads to the erosion of the global architecture for countering money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” Mr. Antonov said in a comment in Telegram channel embassies.
According to the diplomat, it is now clear that “any member of the FATF, for the sake of Washington’s opportunistic requests, can be “squeezed” out of the organization, depriving it of the opportunity to make a useful contribution to collective efforts to ensure international security.” He noted that the Russian Federation for 20 years of participation in the organization “has done a lot to promote effective standards in the field of combating criminal proceeds.” According to him, Russia has created one of the most advanced national anti-money laundering systems.
The FATF decided to suspend the membership of the Russian Federation the day before, on February 24. She explained this by the fact that Moscow’s actions “contradict the basic principles” of the organization, aimed at “strengthening the security, reliability and integrity of the global financial system.” Rosfinmonitoring called the decision “politicized” and “groundless”.