Martin Sandbu, European economics commentator at the Financial Times, discusses the challenges and opportunities involved in using Russia's currently frozen Central Bank assets to support Ukraine's economy and reconstruction.

The hashtag 'Russia Must Pay' is frequently trending on social media, boosted by politicians, civil society organisations and individuals outraged by Russia's continued aggression. But while this sentiment is easy for politicians and financiers to articulate, it has yet to be matched in deeds. Martin Sandbu joins host Tom Keatinge to explore how the $300 billion of immobilised Russian Central Bank assets could be unlocked and deployed to support the Ukrainian economy and fund the huge costs associated with the reconstruction of a country devastated by Russia's illegal war.

China's regular muscle-flexing and other threatening moves towards Taiwan poses a great challenge. How should the West think about this behaviour, given the integration of China into the international economy and the extent to which the West relies on trade with Beijing? Could sanctions be used as a policy instrument here?

In this episode, host Kinga Redlowska, Head of CFCS Europe, is joined by Emily Kilcrease, Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy, Economics and Security Programme at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). They discuss the findings of a recent CNAS report entitled 'No Winners in This Game: Assessing the US Playbook for Sanctioning China'. If you are curious about possible sanctions scenarios in the case of an escalation of tensions between the US and China, then don't miss this week's episode.

The financial crime and sanctions world has mushroomed into a global industry. Thousands of compliance officers, analysts, policymakers and law enforcement officials are involved in some element of this behemoth. Among these many thousands, a few figures have emerged as opinion formers – those who found themselves at the forefront of developments.

In this episode, host Tom Keatinge, Director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at RUSI, is joined by Danny Glaser who has spent over 20 years at the heart of US efforts to advance the fight against financial crime. They talk about sanctions, terrorist financing, and the 'most powerful organisation few have ever heard of': the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Sanctions circumvention has been at the core of policy discussions on restrictive measures. But what does 'circumvention' mean, and what is the on-the-ground reality in the countries that are so often associated with this activity?

Host Kinga Redlowska, Head of CFCS Europe, is joined by Carl Schreck, investigative journalist at Radio Free Europe, and Olivia Allison, CFCS Associate Fellow, to discuss the challenge of tackling sanctions circumvention and evasion.

While the tempo of Russia sanctions issuance has dropped off, policymakers and diplomats are working to boost their effectiveness. But what does 'sanctions effectiveness' mean and how can we measure it? And are sanctions serving their purpose to undermine the Russian war machine?

Host Kinga Redlowska, Head of CFCS Europe, is joined by Elina Ribakova, Non-resident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, and Timothy Ash, Senior EM Sovereign Strategist, BlueBay Asset Management, to discuss the challenge of assessing the effectiveness and impact of sanctions on Russia.

Those in the private sector can often feel stuck between policymakers who fear cryptocurrencies are undermining their carefully built regulatory fortifications, and the online world of dark markets beyond those regulatory walls.

Host Tom Keatinge is joined by co-author Allison Owen, CFCS Associate Fellow, and Rodrigo Peiteado, Senior Manager of Digital Asset investigations at BVNK, to discuss a new virtual asset risk assessment guide for the private sector published by the CFCS: Institutional Virtual Asset Service Providers and Virtual Assets Risk Assessment Guide | Royal United Services Institute (rusi.org)

Effective implementation of sanctions requires cooperation with partners around the globe. Host Tom Keatinge, Director of CFCS at RUSI, sat down with EU Sanctions Envoy David O'Sullivan in Brussels to explore the EU's approach to negotiations with third countries to clamp down on the circumvention of sanctions, emphasise the importance of data in sanctions diplomacy and stress the role of the private sector in making sanctions effective.

Before 7 October 2023, the terrorist threat posed by Hamas was largely clouded by preoccupation with geopolitical tensions and the ongoing war in Ukraine. But not anymore. Hamas's coordinated attacks on Israel and the resultant conflict has made the terror group's threat and its financing unavoidable. Host Stephen Reimer unpacks the key issues and debunks some common myths at the heart of the Hamas financing story with Jessica Davis of Insight Threat Intelligence and Matthew Levitt of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Recently, the political class in Westminster has been consumed with with the conduct of bank accounts or, more specifically, when these are being closed, unilaterally, by banks. It's a long running problem. Might the spotlight brought to the issue by Nigel Farage finally create some overdue action by the UK government? In this episode, host Tom Keatinge is joined by Izabella Kaminska from Politico and the Blind Spot, and Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan, the Financial Times' banking and fintech correspondent, to explore what has been going on – and why the Farage farrago is perhaps old wine in new bottles.

As multilateral organisations battle strong geopolitical headwinds, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – the global financial crime watchdog – is not immune to such pressures. Indeed, it faces a range of challenges that are increasingly raising questions about its continued legitimacy. In this episode, host Tom Keatinge explores what these challenges are and how the FATF might stay ahead of them with two former FATF insiders, David Lewis and Michelle Harwood.