One of the eight regional groups in the world dealing with the issue of combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the Asia-Pacific Anti-Money Laundering Group (APG), has ceased cooperation with the Russian Federation. This was reported by the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine, which at the end of April initiated the exclusion of the Russian Federation from this international organization..

" Kuala Lumpur.

In its public statement on the withdrawal of Russia's observer status, APG noted that this decision was made on the basis of the FATF Public Statement on Restricting Russia's Membership Rights, published in June 2022.

“This logical decision of the Asia-Pacific Group once again demonstrates the sequence of steps taken by the international community in order to respond fairly to the criminal actions of the Russian Federation in the war against Ukraine.. We are grateful to APG for supporting Ukraine in this diplomatic struggle and we are confident that the process of isolating the Russian Federation in the international arena will continue,” said Igor Cherkassky, head of the State Financial Monitoring Service..

Recall that this decision was preceded by an official appeal of the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine dated April 28 to the APG management with a request to consider this issue at the next APG Plenary meeting.

APG is a FATF-type regional body (similar to MONEYVAL), officially established in 1997 with a Secretariat in.

Sydney, Australia). 41 jurisdictions are members of this group, and now 7 countries and 33 more international organizations are observers, including MONEYVAL.

The International Group on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism - FATF, in June limited the role and influence of the Russian Federation in this international body and is preparing to include the Russian Federation in the sanctions list. This may happen in October of this year..