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Cato Weekly Podcast • January 6, 2026 

# Debanked for Dissent: How Putin’s Reach Extends Abroad 

A Russian dissident living in exile finds her US bank accounts closed after being labeled an extremist by the Kremlin. Nicholas Anthony interviews Anna Chekhovich of the Anti-Corruption Foundation about her experience being debanked. Together, they unpack how sanctions, anti-money laundering rules, and financial surveillance systems enable authoritarian governments to silence critics beyond their borders.

#### Show Notes 

[![Debanking](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-01/Closed%20v2.jpg?itok=tPoea0wU)](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/understanding-debanking-evaluating-governmental-operational-political-religious) 

Study 

### [Understanding Debanking: Evaluating Governmental, Operational, Political, and Religious Financial Account Closures](/policy-analysis/understanding-debanking-evaluating-governmental-operational-political-religious) 

By [Nicholas Anthony](https://www.cato.org/people/nicholas-anthony) 

Debanking can be a frustrating and nerve-racking experience.

[![banking and finance](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2024-06/GettyImages-1492189677.jpg?itok=NbMAg3fl)](https://www.cato.org/testimony/debanking-need-transparency) 

Testimony 

### [Debanking and the Need for Transparency](/testimony/debanking-need-transparency) 

By [Nicholas Anthony](https://www.cato.org/people/nicholas-anthony) 

Required confidentiality often means customers are not allowed to know what went wrong with their own accounts. In turn, the exact causes of debanking are shrouded in mystery.

[![A single light ](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-02/working%20late.jpg?itok=NOUlmUCE)](https://www.cato.org/blog/two-types-debanking-operational-governmental) 

blog 

### [Two Types of Debanking: Operational and Governmental](/blog/two-types-debanking-operational-governmental) 

By [Nicholas Anthony](https://www.cato.org/people/nicholas-anthony) 

Distinguishing between these two forms of debanking matters greatly. It is the difference between losing access to one bank versus losing access to every bank.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![Nicholas Anthony Cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-02/NicholasAnthony-cropped.jpg?itok=f4HYrot7)](/people/nicholas-anthony) 

##### [Nicholas Anthony](/people/nicholas-anthony)

Research Fellow, Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives

[ 

](https://x.com/EconWithNick) 

![Anna Chekhovich](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-01/anna-checkhovich.jpg?itok=eLZLSx0F) 

##### Anna Chekhovich 

Anti-Corruption Foundation