VILNIUS, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - Lithuania and Russia have signed an agreement on cooperation in the fight against money-laundering and financing of terrorism, the Lithuanian Interior ministry said.
Undersecretary of the Lithuanian Interior Ministry, Stanislovas Liutkevicius, said on Thursday that the agreement would help both countries conduct successful investigations of crimes in the sphere of finances.
"This cooperation will undoubtedly improve the effectiveness of investigations of this type of crimes," Liutkevicius said.
Head of the Russian Federal Financial Monotoring Service, Yuri Chikanchin, said in his turn that "the main goal of this cooperation is to take the 'dirty money' out of circulation."
Chikanchin added that Russia has intensified the fight against financial crime and many criminals choose to launder money in foreign countries, including Lithuania.
"We are aiming to make this cooperation an effective tool for preventing the discrimination of our financial system and creating conditions for the development of 'clean' economy," the Russian official said.
Russia is a full member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) - an inter-governmental body whose purpose is to combat money laundering and terrorist financing - since June 2003. Lithuania has not yet joined the FATF, but is a member of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism.
