Ukraine slams decision to exclude Russia from anti-money laundering blacklist – POLITICO

Ukraine’s supporters say this is proof that the body is “broken” and unable to respond to global crises.

“Like all multilateral organizations today, the FATF is divided on geopolitics,” said Tom Keatinge, director of the Royal United Services Institute’s center for finance and security.

“If international organizations such as the UN and FATF do not take action, the US, EU and other countries that reject Russia’s kind of illegal action will have to push much harder for sanctions. It’s time to take off the gloves,” Keatinge added.

Nicki Kenyon, a former senior intelligence officer at the U.S. Treasury Department who currently works at the Institute for Financial Integrity in Washington, DC, also questioned Russia’s exclusion from the list.

“The mission of the FATF is to protect the global financial system. And there is a tremendous amount of evidence that Russia is actually undermining these efforts, and undermining the integrity of the global financial system,” she said.

FATF did not respond to a request for comment.