Russian money laundering paradise
The Greens call for sanctions against Emirates Airlines
23/3/2022 8:32 AM
Green MEP Andresen estimates that about 40,000 Russians have taken their assets abroad via the UAE. Sanctions against Russia can be circumvented by money laundering. That is why the Green Party in the European Parliament is now demanding tougher action against the UAE.
Germany’s Green Party in the European Parliament is calling on the European Union to take tougher action against possible circumvention of Russia’s sanctions in the United Arab Emirates. “The EU should not turn a blind eye when Russian assets are transferred to third countries and cleaned up there,” said EU spokesman Rasmus Andersen. The EU Commission’s job is to do everything in its power to drain Russia’s financial flows.
This also includes penalizing countries that may become more attractive such as the Money Laundering Commission due to European sanctions. Specifically, the Greens are calling for the UAE to be included in the EU’s list of high-risk countries in the Money Laundering Directive. This means, among other things, that increased due diligence requirements apply to transactions.
And MEP Anderson criticized “it is incomprehensible that the European Commission has so far ignored the transfer of Russian assets to the UAE.” According to him, according to experts, about 40 thousand Russians have already seized assets abroad through the Emirates and invested the majority in cash. The relatively weak rules for regulating cryptocurrency and anti-money laundering make this possible.
After the attack on Ukraine, the West imposed harsh sanctions on Russia. Among other things, the European Union has frozen the assets of several individuals, closed its airspace to Russian aircraft and partially excluded Russian banks from the SWIFT system. The United States has already imposed an embargo on the import of oil from Russia. European countries avoid such a measure due to their dependence on oil and natural gas from Russia.