The current challenges of money laundering law in Russia

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the new Russian law on Money laundering. Globalisation has turned the international financial systems into a paradise for money launderers. As much as globalisation has expanded opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the new Russian law on money laundering which brought some changes to the existing system was introduced in Russia in 2002. Even though it has improved the regulation on money laundering greatly, it has failed to efficiently combat terrorism. Overall, the Russian anti-money laundering regime has proved ineffective in terms of meeting its stated purposes of combating organised crime and terrorism. The limited success of the Russian anti-money laundering law stems largely from the fact that Russian banking system is structurally weak. Design/methodology/approach - This paper analyses the problems through literature review. Also, the problem will be looked at from an international law perspective, explaining why Russian efforts will not be efficient as long as no consensus is reached at international level. Findings - This paper starts from the premise that Russian made great effort to comply with international recommendations but that its law fails to efficiently deal with terrorism finance partly due to the fact that no consensus exists at international level as to the definition of the terrorism. Furthermore, the doubt persists as to the real aim pursued by Russian Government while enacting the money laundering law. Originality/value - Few papers have been published about money laundering in Russia, but none of them look at the problem of the lack of definition of terrorism at international level to explain the deficiencies of the system in place.