“The crux of Putin’s ability to punish dissenters revolves around Russia’s financial intelligence unit, Rosfinmonitoring. Putin created Rosfinmonitoring–under the direct control of the president and placed it in the charge of a fiercely loyal subordinate, Viktor Zubkov (also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the natural gas and oil giant Gazprom). Rosfinmonitoring, and the laws criminalizing money laundering (Russian Federal Law No. 115-FZ ), were established on the recommendation of the U.S. and European powers, who sought to institutionalize a global anti-money laundering regime in the 1990′s and early 2000′s.”
