Money laundering in Russia: legislative highlights
CMS Legal, 17 April 2002
Money laundering as it is understood in most countries within the European Union, and in particular, in the United Kingdom, is a relatively new concept for Russian economic regulation. While the laundering of proceeds from crime undoubtedly went on during the Soviet and Perestroika eras, its prevention has only recently become part of the official policy of the Russian Government.
President Putin and his Government are actively pushing the economy towards international markets but these markets require certain basic conditions to be met by all participants. One such condition is that each such participant should have put into place adequate measures to prevent laundered money flowing around the global financial system. Unfortunately, Russia was deemed not to have done enough in this regard and so was entered into the OECD’s Financial Action Task Force blacklist.
