Washington: Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov says that the suspension of Russia’s membership in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) could significantly harm global efforts to fight money laundering.
On Friday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the decision of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to suspend Russia’s membership in the organization was “historic.”
“The Secretary of the Treasury is apparently rubbing her hands at the implementation of a frankly politicized initiative within the framework of a purely technical, by its mandate, multilateral forum. All of it looks unprofessional and irresponsible,” Antonov told reporters commenting on the move.
He recalled that Russia, during its 20 years of membership in the FATF, has done a lot to promote effective standards in the field of combating criminal proceeds and has created one of the most advanced national “anti-money laundering” systems.
“The US administration refuses to understand that the suspension of Russia’s participation in the FATF is a dangerous step that actually leads to the erosion of the global architecture to combat money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” Antonov said.
He added that Washington appears to be willing to sacrifice the “well-being and stability of humanity in order to trivially and frenziedly settle an old score with Russia.” Antonov also said that it is clear that any member of the FATF can be suspended “for the sake of Washington’s opportunistic needs,” and at the expense of efforts aimed at ensuring international security.
The Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service said on Friday that Russia’s suspension goes against the FATF’s goals of protecting financial systems and the global economy as a whole from money laundering, terrorist financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The suspension does not entail any obligations and restrictions for financial institutions in Russia and abroad, the Russian watchdog specified.
