How can the US enforce sanctions on Russian dark money?

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine so far shows no signs of stopping, and Russian and Ukrainian forces continue to battle over control of key cities across the country. Much of the world has condemned the Kremlin’s war and called for consequences for Russia’s political and military elite. With the G7’s sweeping sanctions on Russia’s economy and major international financial nations like Switzerland freezing Russian assets, an estimated $360 billion in foreign reserves is now out of reach for Putin and his government.

However, according to the most reliable estimates, Russia has the world’s largest volume of dark money hidden abroad—about $1 trillion. With the United States serving as a major hub for global money laundering, what needs to happen so the United States can find and freeze hidden Russian assets in the US economy? What is the role of Congress in this fight against kleptocracy?

The Honorable Sheldon Whitehouse, US senator from Rhode Island, joins Julia Friedlander, C. Boyden Gray senior fellow and director of the Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center’s Economic Statecraft Initiative, for a one-on-one discussion on the senator’s lead role on tracking down dark money in the United States financial system. Ambassador John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, welcomes.

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