OUTCOMES OF THE 43RD EAG PLENARY MEETING

General information about the EAG Plenary Meeting

On November 24-28, 2025 the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) held the meetings of the EAG Working Groups and the 43rd Plenary Meeting in Minsk (Republic of Belarus). The representatives of all EAG Member States, the FATF-style regional bodies (GABAC, ESAAMLG, MENAFATF) as well as the Observers and invited delegations of the Federal Republic of Germany, Islamic Republic of Iran, Mongolia, Republic of Serbia, United Arab Emirates, BCBOP, CIS ATC, CIS CHoFIU, CIS Executive Committee, CSTO, NDB, OSCE, SCO, UNOCT, UNODC, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Cuba, Republic of Indonesia, CIS CCPG and Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development participated in the meetings.

The EAG Chairman, Mr. Yury Chikhanchin (Russian Federation) and the EAG Deputy Chairman, Mr. Jakhongir Khatamov (Republic of Uzbekistan) chaired the Plenary Meeting.

The Chairman of the State Control Committee of the Republic of Belarus.  Mr. Vasily Gerasimov made welcoming remarks on behalf of the Republic of Belarus. The welcoming address to the participants of the Plenary Meeting was also delivered by Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Mr. Nikolai Zhuravlev.

Key issues and the most important decisions of the Plenary Meeting

The Plenary meeting elected Mr. Yury Chikhanchin (Russian Federation) as the EAG Chairman and Mr. Dmitry Zakharov (Republic of Belarus) as the EAG Deputy Chairman for the period 2026-2027, and approved the Chairmanship Priorities for 2026-2027, including:

• ensuring the conduct of the 3rd round of mutual evaluations in accordance with the EAG Procedures;
• developing cooperation within the FATF Global Network;
• identifying and mitigating current regional ML/TF/PF risks;
• developing multilateral interagency formats for interaction within the EAG platform and strengthening its image;
• forming coordinated approaches to developing human resources in the field of AML/CFT within the EAG.

The Republic of Belarus has submitted its second Follow-up report for 2022-2025 on addressing the deficiencies in the national AML/CFT/CPF system identified in the previous round of mutual evaluations. During 2022-2025, Belarus took measures to ensure the proportionality of sanctions for money laundering offences, eliminate shortcomings related to the assessment of risks posed by new technologies, adjust requirements for electronic transfers and the transfer of information by third parties, interact with gambling participants, etc.

In preparation for the third round of mutual evaluations of the EAG, the Member States are taking measures to improve their national AML/CFT/CPF systems. The now traditional reports by delegations on legal and institutional changes aimed at implementing the revised FATF Standards are one element of the exchange of experience and best practices between the EAG Member States. In addition, a mechanism for monitoring countries' readiness for the third round of the EAG mutual evaluations (key performance indicators) has been approved, which will be of assistance for the Member States in identifying problem areas in their national AML/CFT/CPF systems in a timely manner and take measures to address them in advance of the mutual evaluation.

During the intersessional period, the EAG training events were held, including jointly with the FATF Training Center and MENAFATF, as well as with the support of the ITMCFM. This made it possible to strengthen the human resources capacity of the competent authorities of the EAG and MENAFATF Member States, as well as to increase the number of assessors for the third round of mutual evaluations. Additional measures to increase the number of trained experts are expected to ensure the further development of national personnel in the field of AML/CFT/CPF.

As part of the Russian Chairmanship Priorities, the current version of an Information Bulletin on the activities of terrorist groups in the Eurasian region has been approved. MENAFATF jurisdictions have joined the project as yet another sign of developing cooperation with FSRBs. It is planned that the results of the project will be put into practice both in the activities of anti-terrorist and financial intelligence units and in the mutual evaluations of the EAG Member States in terms of ensuring understanding of ML risks at the national level (Immediate Outcome 1), as well as in identifying the specific role of individuals and organizations involved in terrorist activities (Immediate Outcome 9).

Monitoring the operational situation in EAG Member States in terms of new ML/FT risks continues to be an important area of ​​EAG activity. An analysis of its results for 2025 shows that the ML/TF threats, vulnerabilities and risks identified by the Member States in 2025 generally reflect the results of the First Round of risk assessment in the Eurasian region. At the same time, the legalization of criminal proceeds is now increasingly carried out using multi-level schemes, including with the participation of professional money launderers which use cryptocurrencies and the payment details of front men – "droppers". In the field of terrorist financing, schemes using foreign crypto exchanges, in-game currencies, and crypto wallets are gaining popularity.

Responding to the emerging risks and threats in the Eurasian region, a decision was made to carry out projects aimed at studying typologies of the use of proxy persons (mules) and virtual asset service providers in illegal schemes (lead by the Republic of Tajikistan) and the use of artificial intelligence technologies as a tool for terrorist financing activities and in the activities of competent authorities in the CFT sphere (co-leads – the Republic of India, the Russian Federation, CIS ATC and the United Arab Emirates).

A significant part of the EAG's work is devoted to studying the ML/TF risks associated with instability in Afghanistan. According to the results of the analysis of information received from the Member States, it has been established that the most popular methods of making settlements for drugs and laundering the proceeds are the use of bank accounts and front men cards, electronic money and virtual assets.  

Other issues

The UN Office of Counter-Terrorism and the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group have become new observers of the EAG. The expansion of the number of Observers is intended to promote cooperation between the Eurasian Group and these organizations and countries in order to share experience, knowledge, and resources and develop mechanisms for interaction to solve common problems. These tasks include strengthening national AML/CFT/CPF systems and protecting the financial systems and economies of the Member States from ML/TF/PF threats.    

The creation of the International Association of Training and Methodological Centers of the EAG Member States (the Association) was approved, which comprises training organizations from the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan. Cooperation between training organizations of the EAG Member States within a single structure will allow for the effective distribution of resources among the EAG Member States, which is very important for those countries that currently do not have departmental or other training organizations within their structures but are in dire need of training for representatives of government authorities, reporting entities, and the private sector in the field of AML/CFT. One of the main tasks of the Association will be to develop standards and common approaches to training and certification.

The EAG Rules on coordination of technical assistance have been amended to reflect the Eurasian Group countries’ experience of mutual technical assistance .

In order to respond in a timely manner to requests from the Member States for technical assistance, along with other existing mechanisms (direct provision of technical assistance to the Member States by donors), it has been agreed to establish the EAG Fund for the purpose of technical assistance and development (the TA Fund). The TA Fund will be one of the sources of financing for the implementation of the Member States' TA plans to prepare countries and their national teams for the third round of mutual evaluations. Other tasks of the TA Fund include financing activities to raise awareness of AML/CFT/CPF events and the implementation of the concept of a single information space in the Eurasian region, ensuring the participation of the EAG experts in the activities of the FATF Global Network, and the implementation of the Eurasian Group's current initiatives, including those related to the improvement of the IT infrastructure for providing technical assistance.

In accordance with the Russian Chairmanship Priorities, projects of the International Training and Methodological Center for Financial Monitoring (the ITMCFM) were presented, aimed at preparing for the third round of mutual evaluations of the EAG, forming coordinated approaches to educational activities in the Eurasian region, and identifying signs and patterns of financial behavior of "droppers". The ITMCFM’s role as a leading donor and provider in the implementation of project plans for the EAG Member States was emphasized.

As part of measures to assist the Islamic Republic of Iran in addressing deficiencies in its national AML/CFT/CPF system, a plan to provide technical assistance to the country by the EAG Member States was prepared and approved.

The Plenary Meeting gave a positive assessment of the results of the EAG Forum on AML/CFT, which was held in Turkmenistan (Ashgabat) on October 14-15, 2025. The information obtained as a result of the Forum will be used in the course of the EAG typological projects, including the project to develop a mechanism to improve the effectiveness of national AML/CFT/CPF systems in asset recovery. The next forum will be held in the second half of 2026 in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

On the sidelines of the Plenary Meeting, the law enforcement and judicial authorities conference "The use of high technologies to improve the effectiveness of national AML/CFT/CFT systems in the detection, investigation, and prosecution of activities related to the obtaining and/or laundering of criminal proceeds or the financing of terrorism" was held. During the conference, representatives from Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, the UAE and Iran presented best practices in the use of modern technologies for detecting, investigating and prosecuting predicate offences, ML and TF, as well as for effective AML/CFT/CPF activities. The information obtained is also planned to be used in EAG typology projects. The results of the conference were positively assessed by the delegations. It has been recommended to hold such events on a regular basis.

The EAG also gave a positive assessment of the results of the workshop for supervisory authorities and the private sector on “Application of contemporary technologies in internal control and supervisory activities in AML/CFT”, during which participants exchanged experiences on the use of new technologies both in the supervision of the private sector and in the implementation of preventive measures by supervised entities.

The annual Contest for the best cooperation between competent authorities in the field of AML/CFT was held as part of the Plenary Meeting. The 12th Contest’s winner was the delegation from the Republic of Belarus and its laureates were People's Republic of China and Russian Federation.

As part of the Plenary Meeting, the winners of the 4th annual Contest among compliance officers of financial institutions from EAG Member States for the best AML/CFT financial analysis were awarded. This year, for the first time, Observers from the EAG and MENAFATF Member States were invited to participate in the Contest. The winner of the Contest was the National Bank of Egypt, while Pochta Bank (Russian Federation) and Bank Eskhata (Republic of Tajikistan) were laureates. The case study by the National Bank of Egypt also received the audience award.

In addition, the winners of the first Journalist contest in the EAG Member States for the best story on the topic of financial security were awarded. The contest is held with the aim of improving cooperation between the financial intelligence units of the EAG Member States and the media; forming a positive image of financial intelligence units, the EAG and the FATF Global Network as a whole in society; and promoting the topic of financial security. The contest entries were considered in the categories “Video of television stories”, “Publications in the print media and on the Internet”, and “Audio of radio stories”. The winners of the contest were E. Aktanov (Kyrgyz Republic), V. Ankudinova (Russian Federation), S. Arykbaeva (Republic of Kazakhstan), and Y. Shevchuk (Republic of Belarus).

The Plenary Meeting heard reports on the results of the International Financial Security Movement Forum – “Financial Security in the Era of New Technologies: Threats and Solutions” and the 5th International Financial Security Olympiad, which was held from September 29 to October 3, 2025, in Krasnoyarsk at the initiative of the Russian Federation. The delegations expressed their support for further development of the International Financial Security Movement.

As is traditional, special attention was paid to the speeches of Observers, as well as invited countries and organizations (CIS ATC, CIS CCPG, CIS CHoFIU, CIS Executive Committee, ESAAMLG, Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development, GABAC, Islamic Republic of Iran, MENAFATF, NDB, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Serbia, United Arab Emirates). They were expressed deep gratitude for sharing their experience and hope for further cooperation.

The Plenary expressed gratitude to the Republic of Belarus for hosting the events of the 43rd EAG Plenary Session, as well as for the high level of organization.

Turkmenistan will host the 44th EAG Plenary Meeting in May 2026.