Anti-Money Laundering in Russia

February 2008
Tax Planning International
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According to John Walker's estimate on global money laundering in 1998, money laundering constituted 15 percent of the Russian GDP. In the same review Russia ranked third in both the top 20 origins of laundered money and in the top 20 destinations for laundered money. Given such devastating statistics and the underdevelopment of Russian legislation on anti-money laundering, Russia was put on the blacklist of "tax havens" by the Financial Action Task on Money Laundering (FATF) in 2000. This action lead to numerous discriminatory measures against Russian financial institutions. During the last few years, however, Russia has done a great deal to remedy the situation. One of the most important steps was Russia's ratification in 2001 of the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Tracing, Seizure and Confiscation of Proceeds from Crime (1990 Convention). One direct result of ratifying the Convention was the creation of national anti-money laundering legislation.