On 17 January, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko was a keynote speaker at the Forum “Global russia Risks: Financial Crime and Compliance Forum”, which was held online by AVELLUM law firm.

In his speech, the Minister of Finance spoke about the growing global risks to the international financial system caused by russia.

russia has intensified arms trade and commercial ties with FATF blacklisted countries such as Iran and North Korea, and cooperates with terrorist and sanctioned organisations, including the Wagner PMC, the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Assad regime. putin has recently publicly acknowledged that russia fully financed the Wagner PMC from the federal budget.

Corruption, increased opacity and the withholding of public information outside russia pose additional risks to those who do business with it, directly or indirectly.

Sergii Marchenko stressed that russia continues to set numerous illegal schemes to circumvent sanctions, using shell companies, FSB-controlled intermediaries and third countries: "Their priority at the moment is dual-use goods and technologies, as their military-industrial complex is completely reliant on Western technology. So, any components, machines or technology that can be repurposed for military use have a high potential to end up in russia if proper risk analysis and mitigation strategies are not implemented”.

“For too long, russia has been allowed to undermine the system from the inside. The rules-based international order can only survive if violators are held accountable. We have effective mechanisms to enforce these principles. The time has come to use them to the fullest extent to protect the global financial system and international businesses from growing russia risks,” – said Sergii Marchenko.

The Minister also noted that international companies, for their part, must understand the vast and evolving risks russia poses and put effective systems in place to analyse these risks to protect their operations and stay on the right side of history.