Illicit finance and Russian foreign policy: new dynamics and linkages
Project Live
PROJECT TEAM
Professor David Lewis
University of Exeter
Contact: d.lewis@exeter.ac.uk
David Lewis is Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Exeter and a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). He teaches and conducts research on international peace and security, with a regional focus on Russia and Eurasia. His recent publications include Russia’s New Authoritarianism: Putin and the Politics of Order (Edinburgh University Press, 2020). Before joining the Politics Department at Exeter, he worked in the Department of Peace Studies at Bradford University and for the International Crisis Group in Central Asia and in Sri Lanka. During 2019-2022 he was on secondment as a Research Fellow at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. He was awarded an OBE in the 2023 New Year Honours List.
Dr Tena Prelec
University of Rijeka
Contact: tena.prelec@cas.uniri.hr
Dr Tena Prelec is a Lecturer at the Centre for Advanced Studies on South Eastern Europe (CAS SEE), University of Rijeka. She is formerly a Research Fellow at the Department of Politics & International Relations (DPIR) at the University of Oxford. She obtained her PhD from the School of Law, Politics and Sociology, Centre for the Study of Corruption (CSC), at the University of Sussex. Dr Prelec is also a member of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG) and a Research Associate at LSEE-Research on South Eastern Europe, London School of Economics and Political Science. Her co-authored book, Professional Indulgences: British service providers, post-communist elites, and the enabling of kleptocracy, is forthcoming with OUP in 2024.
Olivia Allison
Olivia Allison has more than 15 years' experience carrying out complex, international investigations and supporting the development of integrity and governance for state-owned companies, international companies, and international financial institutions (IFIs). She has a wide range of financial crime and asset tracing experience from leadership roles held in London, Moscow, Kyiv, and Kazakhstan.
She is currently working as an independent consultant, following a role as a Senior Managing Director at the boutique investigations consultancy K2 Integrity. Before that, she was a partner at KPMG, where she set up and led the Forensic team in Kyiv from 2016-2020 (also leading the KPMG Forensic team in Kazakhstan in this period).
PROJECT SUMMARY
This project examines how Russia is using illicit financial flows (IFF) to support its military campaign against Ukraine and to further its wider foreign policy goals. The scale of Russian use of illicit financial networks has increased rapidly since February 2022. Unless effectively countered, Russia's use of financial and economic tools will give it an advantage in its war against Ukraine and may begin to pose a potential systemic threat to international financial and trading systems.
The research seeks to conceptualise how Russia uses illicit finance in political interference and information campaigns around the world, and how these dynamics may be changing in the new context of the war in Ukraine. The project has also begun work on the role of illicit finance in the war itself, including its role in Russia's military strategy and in the occupation of Ukrainian territory.
PUBLICATIONS
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Owen, C., Prelec, T., & Mayne, T. (2022). The illicit financialisation of Russian foreign policy: Mapping the practices that facilitate Russia’s illicit financial flows(SOC ACE Research Paper 3). Serious Organised Crime and Anti‑Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham.
Lewis, D., & Prelec, T. (2023). New dynamics in illicit finance and Russian foreign policy(SOC ACE Research Paper 17). Serious Organised Crime and Anti‑Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham.
Lewis, D. (2023). Economic crime and illicit finance in Russia’s occupation regime in Ukraine (SOCACE Research Paper 20). Serious Organised Crime and Anti‑Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham.
Allison, O., & Lewis, D. (2025). Looting Mariupol: Russia’s use of illicit finance and economic crime in occupied Ukraine (SOCACE Research Paper 35). Serious Organised Crime and Anti‑Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham.
Stern, V., & Allison, O. (2025). Women and illicit finance in occupied Ukraine (SOCACE Research Paper 37). Serious Organised Crime and Anti‑Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham.
Allison, O. & Coyle, J. (2026). Russian war-related illicit trade in the Black Sea: International networks and policy options. (SOC ACE Research Paper No 45), Serious Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham.
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Owen, C. (2022). Mapping Russian illicit finance in Africa: The cases of Sudan and Madagascar (SOC ACE Briefing Note No. 7). Serious Organised Crime and Anti‑Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham.
Prelec, T. (2022). Russian illicit financial flows and political influence in South Eastern Europe: How financial flows and politics intersect in Montenegro and Serbia (SOCACE Briefing Note No. 08). Serious Organised Crime and Anti‑Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham.
Mayne, T. (2022). Russian illicit financial flows and influence on Western European politics(SOCACE Briefing Note No. 09). Serious Organised Crime and Anti‑Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham.
Allison, O. & Coyle, J. (2026). UK and European networks linked to Russian war-related illicit trade (SOC ACE Briefing Note No 55), Serious Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (SOC ACE), University of Birmingham.
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Lewis, D., & Prelec, T. (2026). Corruption and revisionism: The role of illicit finance in Russian foreign policy. Public Integrity, 28(2), 312–326
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Lewis, D. (2025). Occupation: Russian rule in South‑Eastern Ukraine. Hurst Publishers.
MEDIA & EVENTS
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Item description
UPTAKE & IMPACT
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Home Office. (2025). UK Anti‑Corruption Strategy 2025 (CP 1454). UK Government. - government document citing “Looting Mariupol: Russia’s use of illicit finance and economic crime in Ukraine” in highlighting the damage corruption causes in fueling instability, state capture and state threats, as well as undermining business integrity.
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