We will close Londongrad and stop kleptocracies poisoning the world

In February, we saw what corruption truly costs – lives. Based on the flawed intelligence of corrupted spies, Russian troops launched a criminal invasion of Ukraine to protect a regime that has stolen from its own people for decades.

The failure was not just down to the extraordinary courage of the Ukrainian forces, but their own generals. Before the tanks had moved an inch, the heirs to Russia’s oncefeared KGB had squirreled away the millions supposedly spent on influence and intelligence.

The generals did the same with logistics. Senior military officers watered down the fuel and flogged the rest. They sold food and water and their men are now freezing. Even factories miles from the front have dumped supplies on the market in exchange for a fast buck. The result – soldiers were sent to war underfed, under-gunned and under-prepared.

Those who sent them, from the president down, sit safe at home, getting rich while they are paying with their lives. Cowardice and corruption are eviscerating a generation of Russians. They are not alone.

In Tehran, we’re seeing decades of theft and violence leading to protests and violence. While the people have suffered, the religious and military elites have enriched themselves.

Across the world graft is costing millions of lives and billions of pounds, and undermining the rule of law and democracy. That’s bad for us all, because borders don’t contain corruption – it seeps out to poison the whole world.

We feel the poison here. From Novichok and polonium attacks in Salisbury and London, to murders of those connected to the Kremlin kleptocrats. We know the cost of Vladimir Putin’s corrupt rule.

Moscow’s gold is a threat to our national security. It erodes trust and it leaves us vulnerable. It allows our enemies to fund actions against us and weakens the institutions we need to protect us. This government is working to end those threats and secure our markets.

Last week the National Crime Agency delivered a powerful message to those connected to hostile states. Officers arrested a Russian businessman in the latest activity targeting potential criminality by oligarchs, the professional service providers who support them and those linked to the Russian regime.

We are closing Londongrad. Today is International Anticorruption Day and we will mark it by announcing a new tranche of sanctions under the Global Anti-corruption Sanctions regime. They are part of our work to combat corruption worldwide and the effects it has on our country.

Despite all the progress we are making, we can’t deliver alone. Global financial centres from Singapore to New York must cooperate to stop laundering the wealth of nations stolen by criminal regimes and corruption.

Our agenda is simple – we want to shine a light on the darkest corners of the financial world and help people take back control of their economies.

This year has shown the price we all pay for the kleptocracies like Russia. But we are not paying the highest price. In Ukraine, where power stations are leaving millions without heat and water, the real cost is there for all to see. We need to make our fight against corruption count. We have set a clear agenda, we must now help everyone to deliver.