How are authoritarian regimes exploiting the global financial system to target dissidents, civil society organisations and their supporters? And how can emerging technologies help counter these abuses?
These questions are explored in a new Forbes article featuring Lyudmyla Kozlovska, President of the Open Dialogue Foundation, as one of the experts.
In the interview, Lyudmyla highlights the growing phenomenon of transnational financial repression. This goes far beyond denying access to banking services. Increasingly, authoritarian regimes weaponise international anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) frameworks to obtain sensitive financial, travel and communications data, while exploiting international cooperation mechanisms to disrupt and paralyse the work of dissidents, journalists, civil society organisations and their supporters.
Lyudmyla also reflects on ODF’s experience during the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As traditional payment and crowdfunding platforms blocked humanitarian fundraising efforts, Bitcoin enabled the Foundation to bypass these restrictions and deliver emergency aid on the second day of the war. As the article argues, open payment networks can strengthen the resilience of humanitarian organisations against regulatory and financial barriers while maintaining accountability and verification.
The issue has also gained international recognition. In July 2026, the OSCE – The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly — bringing together parliamentarians from across Europe, North America and Central Asia — adopted a landmark resolution recognising transnational financial repression as a systemic threat to democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The resolution calls for stronger protection of donor privacy and the development of financial tools that cannot be weaponised against those standing up to authoritarian regimes.
Read the Forbes article to learn more.
Link in the comments.
Żródło materiału: Fundacja Otwarty Dialog
