EU Labels Russia 'High-Risk' After Decades of Western Money Laundering
The European Commission, in a move Bloomberg highlights as a 'further financial fallout' from the Ukraine invasion, has officially designated Russia a high-risk jurisdiction for money laundering. One might wonder what took them so long, considering the well-documented flow of oligarchic wealth through Western financial hubs for decades. This decision conveniently arrived almost four years into a
full-scale invasion, not when Russian billions funneled into London luxury real estate or Cyprus shell corporations were enabling corruption. The crackdown, it appears, is less about financial hygiene and more about geopolitical leverage. This sudden clarity from the EU mirrors a pattern: financial integrity is sacrosanct only when targeting adversaries. Where was this urgent transparency when
Western banks were facilitating transactions for U.S.-allied regimes with equally dubious financial practices? It appears 'high risk' is a movable goalpost, perfectly aligned with the latest foreign policy agenda. One might infer that some money is simply 'cleaner' if it greases the right palms or funds the 'correct' side of a conflict.