EAG Chairman Yury Chikhanchin visited the Republic of Belarus at the head of the Rosfinmonitoring delegation

A delegation of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring) headed by Yury Chikhanchin visited the Republic of Belarus on April 26-28, 2021.
On April 27, 2021, EAG Chairman Yury Chikhanchin took part in the first meeting of the Interdepartmental commission on combating money laundering, financing of terrorism and financing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (AML/CFT/PF) established in the Republic of Belarus in March 2021.
The meeting of the Interdepartmental commission was chaired by the Chairman of the State Control Committee Vasily Gerasimov. He noted that the creation of such an interagency commission is next step to improve the national AML/CFT legislation, to enhance the effectiveness of the national anti-money laundering system, as well as to perform other activities aimed at its compliance with international AML/CFT standards. Vasily Gerasimov recalled that in 2019 Belarus defended the report on compliance of the national anti-money laundering system with the FATF standards. According to the results of the assessment carried out by international experts, our country was put under the procedure of regular monitoring by the EAG. In November 2022, at the EAG Plenary Session, Belarus will present the first progress report. At present the work on finalizing the action plan to address the deficiencies identified in the course of the assessment is being completed. This plan, taking into account the proposals of interested agencies, is planned to be approved at the next meeting of the Interdepartmental AML/CFT commission.
A similar interdepartmental commission was established in the Russian Federation in 2016. It is headed by Yury Chikhanchin, Director of Rosfinmonitoring. The Commission acts as a coordinating body to ensure coordinated action of the state authorities and organizations in the field of AML/CFT.
Yury Chikhanchin informed the participants of the meeting on the experience of the Russian Interdepartmental commission, as well as on the current risks and threats related to money laundering and terrorist financing.
As a result of the meeting the Secretariat of the Interdepartmental AML/CFT commission was approved, which included representatives of the state bodies and the Administration of the High-Tech Park, constituting the national anti-money laundering system of Belarus.
During the visit, the Rosfinmonitoring delegation held a number of working meetings at the State Control Committee, which were attended by representatives of the Financial Monitoring Department and the Financial Investigation Department.
Views and experience in combating money laundering and financing of terrorist activities were exchanged. Special attention was paid to the issues of compliance with international standards of FATF (Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering), improvement of AML/CFT legislation, training and strengthening of human and technical capacity of anti- money laundering systems of Belarus and Russia and exchange of best practices.
During the visit to Belarus, the Rosfinmonitoring delegation also visited the Hi-Tech Park, where it got acquainted with the capabilities of the park residents, the activities of the crypto-exchange, as well as the experience of our country in monitoring financial transactions with digital signs (tokens), taking into account the risks of transactions related to the possible legalization of criminal income and financing of terrorism.