On December 3, 2023, the EU decided to add Russia to its blacklist of countries at high risk for money laundering and financing terrorism, aiming to strengthen due diligence on all transactions involving Russia. This move obliges financial institutions to perform enhanced scrutiny and forces banks to act against money laundering risks related to Russia. The decision follows the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) suspending Russia's membership in response to the invasion of Ukraine, but FATF had previously failed to blacklist Russia due to opposition by BRICS countries. The EU's blacklist, supported by two EU officials and an internal draft seen by POLITICO, also reflects efforts to override Belgian resistance to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine. The EU has also withdrawn its own Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) from FATF decisions and will begin drafting the blacklist from July 2027. Dutch official Hennie Verbeek-Kusters is set to join AMLA's executive board pending a parliamentary vote on December 15, 2023.

On December 3, 2023, the EU decided to add Russia to its blacklist of countries at high risk for money laundering and financing terrorism, aiming to strengthen due diligence on all transactions involving Russia. This move obliges financial institutions to perform enhanced scrutiny and forces banks to act against money laundering risks related to Russia. The decision follows the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) suspending Russia's membership in response to the invasion of Ukraine, but FATF had previously failed to blacklist Russia due to opposition by BRICS countries. The EU's blacklist, supported by two EU officials and an internal draft seen by POLITICO, also reflects efforts to override Belgian resistance to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine. The EU has also withdrawn its own Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) from FATF decisions and will begin drafting the blacklist from July 2027. Dutch official Hennie Verbeek-Kusters is set to join AMLA's executive board pending a parliamentary vote on December 15, 2023.