Joint US-Russian initiative will aim to cripple ISIS finances

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--Despite their differences in war-torn Syria both the United States and Russian are seeking to take joint steps at the United Nations Security Council to eliminate the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group’s ability to generate revenue.

They plan to do so, according to The Wall Street Journal, by updating an older Security Council resolution which deems al-Qaeda and the Taliban as the primary terrorist threats facing the world to include ISIS.

This counter-terrorist resolution enables the Security Council to punish members of the General Assembly who do not adhere to its requirements such as sanctioning and sharing intelligence on that terrorist group.

In particular, both Moscow and Washington hope to hit the group’s finances hard.

The Financial Times quoted Adam Szubin, Washington’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury, saying that this could make a fundamental difference:

“I know that might sound mundane but in the counter-terrorist financing arena, that [information-sharing] is where the rubber meets the road,” Szubin argued, adding that, “It is about when banks see a suspicious transaction, are they flagging that for financial authorities.”

This joint effort comes shortly after US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Moscow and declared that the US was not seeking to change the regime of Moscow’s Syrian ally, President Bashar al-Assad.