FATF condemns Russia's invasion of Ukraine, imposes additional restrictions on Moscow

Paris [France], October 21 : The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided to impose additional restrictions, including barring Russia from current and future projects, FATF President T Raja Kumar said in a presser on Friday.
Due to the destruction caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the needless loss of lives in the country, Russia has been restricted to participate in meetings of FATF's regional partner bodies as the task force's members.
"FATF repeatedly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Following plenary discussions this week, FATF decided to impose additional restrictions, incl bar Russia from current and future projects and participating in meetings of FATF's regional partner bodies as a FATF member," FATF President T Raja Kumar said.
Rajakumar made these remarks during the press conference he addressed after the two-day plenary session of FATF concluded on Friday.
As the war in Ukraine escalates due to Russian aggression, the country's actions continue to violate FATFs core principles, which aim to promote security, safety and the integrity of the financial system.
Moreover, the task force has, after the completion of the plenary meeting, decided to impose additional restrictions on the country's remaining role, including by barring them from participating in current and future FATF projects. These measures extend to the actions that the FATF took in June, which stripped Russia of all its leadership roles among other restrictions.
On the other hand, FATF moved Myanmar to the blacklist as the global watchdog expressed concern about the lack of progress Myanmar has achieved in its action plan. The country failed to complete its action plan, which fully expired last year. Additionally, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea remain on the blacklist.
The FATF notes Nicaragua's progress in improving the elements of its AML/CFT regime covered by its action plan, according to the statement of the Chairman's summary of FATF. However, the FATF is strongly concerned by the potential misapplication of the FATF standards resulting in the suppression of Nicaragua's non-profit sector.
Furthermore, Pakistan is out of Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) 'grey list' as the global watchdog stated that it welcomes Pakistan's significant progress in improving its AML/CFT regime.
The global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog said after its plenary here that Pakistan strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and addressed technical deficiencies to meet commitments of its action plans regarding strategic deficiencies that FATF identified.
Pakistan "is no longer subject to FATF's increased monitoring process; to continue to work with APG to further improve it is AML/CFT," the watchdog said.
Pakistan has been on the Paris-based watchdog's grey list for deficiencies in its counter-terror financing and anti-money laundering regimes since June 2018. This greylisting has adversely impacted its imports, exports and remittances and limited its access to international lending.
At the June plenary, FATF retained Pakistan on its grey list and said a final decision to remove it from the list will be taken after an "on-site" verification visit.