By Andrew Walker BBC Economics correspondent

Russia has been removed from a list of countries failing to fight money laundering, compiled by the Financial Action Task Force.

Russia did enough to avoid sanctions

Only a little over a year ago the same body - made up of finance and law enforcement officials mostly from the developed world - recommended sanctions.

This is a threat it reserves for countries with the most serious deficiencies.

In the event, Russia did enough by last year's deadline to avoid sanctions, and in the subsequent 12 months it has made further progress.

The Task Force now says Russia has implemented "significant reforms" in its anti-money laundering system.

Sanctions

Its Chairman, Jochen Sanio, described the country's removal from the list as a great success for Russia, and for the international community, in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

But there was bad news for Nigeria and Ukraine.

Both could face sanctions from Task Force member countries from mid-December unless they make further improvements in their anti-money laundering laws.

The sanctions the Task Force can recommend would make it more difficult and time-consuming for banks and others in the countries concerned to do international business.