The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has signed a decree creating a new body to fight money laundering.

The new body will oversee the enforcement of new legislation coming into effect next February, which will require the supervision of any bank transaction above around $20,000.

The new supervisory body will be headed by the deputy tax minister, Viktor Zubkov, from St Petersburg.

Officials in Moscow said yesterday that capital flight from Russia totalled $20bn, and Mr Putin has said that stopping the flow of criminal money overseas is essential to improve Russia's financial reputation.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service