Sleuths from six EU countries are joining forces to see if millions of euros of Russian mafia money was laundered through their banks.

The Council of Europe will on Wednesday debate a damning resolution on the Magnitsky affair, with Russian delegates pledging to attack the text.

The EU's joint police body, Europol, is hunting Russian mafia money in EU banks in connection with the alleged murder of Sergei Magnitsky.

Russian officials banned from entering the US on accusations of corruption and murder are frequent visitors in EU cities, leaked data shows.

The time is ripe for the EU to hold Russia to account on its obligations on democracy and rule of law, writes Kristiina Ojuland.

EU Council chief Herman Van Rompuy has called the murder of Russian anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky "emblematic" of all that is wrong in modern Russia.