The Federal Financial Monitoring Service issued an official statement in connection with the decision to suspend the membership of the Russian Federation in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF):
At the Plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (February 22-24), a politically motivated decision was made to suspend the Russian Federation's membership in the FATF.
Such a decision is unfounded, not based on established procedures, and goes beyond the mandate of this organization. We believe that the decision is contrary to the FATF's goals of protecting financial systems and the economy as a whole from money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing (ML/TF/PF) threats, as well as to the technical nature of the Group.
At the same time, this FATF decision does not impose any obligations or restrictions on financial institutions in Russia and abroad. The Russian anti-money laundering system will continue to operate in accordance with current legislation.
The Russian Federation, as a responsible party, will take measures to combat ML/TF/PF and other serious offences, including by strengthening international cooperation with the countries concerned.
Source: Federal Financial Monitoring Service
