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New Russian gold exports to the UK, Canada, US and Japan will no longer be allowed in in the latest round of sanctions imposed on the country.
The new measures, designed to increase pressure on Putin’s war machine, were unveiled as nations gather for the 48th G7 Summit in Germany on Sunday.
Gold is a major Russian export, worth £12.6bn to the Russian economy in 2021. Its value to the Russian elite has also risen in recent months with oligarchs rushing to buy gold bullion in a bid to stave off the financial impact of Western sanctions.
London is a major global gold trading center and the UK sanctions, which will be the first of their kind implemented against Russia anywhere in the world, will have a huge impact on Putin’s ability to raise funds.
Considering London’s central role in the international gold trade and parallel action by the US, Japan and Canada, the UK government says this move will be global in scope, excluding the commodity from international markets. formal. At the G7, the Prime Minister will urge other leaders to join us in further isolating Russia from the international financial system.
UK import restrictions now apply to more than £13.5bn of Russian exports. The UK has also sanctioned more than 1,000 individuals and more than 100 entities since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Commenting on the move, the Prime Minister said: “The measures we have announced today will directly affect the Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine.
“Putin is wasting his meager resources on this senseless and barbaric war. He is financing his ego at the expense of the Ukrainian and Russian people. We need to deprive the Putin regime of financing him. The UK and our allies are doing just that.”
Foreign Minister Rishi Sunak added: “With this import ban on new gold of Russian origin, more than £13.5bn of our imports from Russia will be covered by restrictions. Given London’s role at the heart of the global gold trade, this shows that the UK will take tough action to stop the Russian war machine.
“I am pleased that following discussions with others on the G7 financial track, the US, Canada and Japan will join us in imposing this measure, closing the tracks for Russian gold sales and maximizing the impact we can have. on Putin and his cronies. .”
The measures announced on Sunday build on the action taken by the London Bullion Market on March 7 to suspend six Russian refineries.
The UK government says the gold import ban, which will come into force shortly, will apply to newly mined or refined gold and will not affect gold of Russian origin previously exported from Russia. There are no plans to extend the restrictions on legitimately purchased Russian gold before the import ban was implemented.
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