About the question of another black list he recalled that the G20 summit in Pittsburgh issued a call addressed to the FATF for drafting by February 2010 new lists of countries whose financial systems are most vulnerable to the money laundering risks.

“The FATF has been working actively along these lines. It has formed working subgroups that have begun to study countries. When it is through with this work, the most risk-prone states will be named,” Nebyvayev said. He added that in fact the point at issue was a second version of the black list Russia had been on a while ago.

In that connection, the executive secretary said, the EAG countries have been taking measures to ensure they should not get into that list, because the efforts they have exerted to create systems for resistance to the financing of terrorism and to money laundering deserve recognition.

In the meantime, there are reasons for concern. For instance, said Nebyvayev, the FATF has issued a statement addressed to Uzbekistan to urge financial institutions to pay close attention to transactions with counter-agents in those countries. A similar warning was addressed to Turkmenistan.

“These statements have not been revoked so far, but we hope that will be done in October,” the EAG official said. Also, he recalled that a far harsher statement was made towards Iran. It mentioned some specific measures financial institutions are to make, Nebyvayev said.

“There is an effective warning regarding Pakistan,” he added.

The EAG executive secretary said there existed a certain group of countries that might get into the new black list.

“Some countries have been filtered out, because they succeeded in proving the effectiveness of their systems of resisting the financing of terrorism and money laundering. The others will be named in February 2010. After that they will have to take measures to clear themselves of suspicions. Otherwise, countermeasures will be taken against them,” the EAG secretary explained.

The EAG unites Russia, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The FATF in 1990 formulated several dozen recommendations as to how to struggle with money laundering. The recommendations were eventually reconsidered in line with the new laundering techniques. Also, it drew up special recommendations as to how to resist the financing of terrorism. The documents have been recognized as official international standards for counteraction to money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In 2000 the FATF put Russia on its black list and removed it in 2002.