The United States, along with Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Commission have announced the launch, 16 March, of a multilateral ‘Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO)’, task force first mandated in statements imposing sanctions on Russia in late February.
The US Department of Justice (‘DOJ’) says that the task force consists of ‘Finance Ministry and Justice or Home Ministry in each member jurisdiction, each committed to using their respective authorities in concert with other appropriate ministries to collect and share information to take concrete actions, including sanctions, asset freezing, civil and criminal asset seizure, and criminal prosecution.’
On 2 March, the DOJ announced the creation of ‘Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export restrictions, and economic countermeasures that the United States has imposed, along with allies and partners, in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine.’
It said, ‘Task Force KleptoCapture will ensure the full effect of these actions, which have been designed to isolate Russia from global markets and impose serious costs for this unjustified act of war, by targeting the crimes of Russian officials, government-aligned elites, and those who aid or conceal their unlawful conduct.’
