Due to strong new measures that will be announced at the G7 Summit beginning today [Sunday 26th June] and are intended to increase the pressure on Putin’s war machine, new exports of Russian gold will no longer be permitted to enter the UK, Canada, US, and Japan.
With a value of £12.6 billion to the Russian economy in 2021, gold is a significant export from Russia.
With oligarchs scrambling to purchase gold bullion in an effort to mitigate the financial effects of western sanctions, its worth to the Russian elite has also risen recently.
London is a significant global center for the trade of gold, therefore the UK’s imposition of the first-ever sanctions of this kind against Russia anywhere in the world will have a significant impact on Putin’s ability to generate money.
This policy will have a global impact and exclude the commodity from official international markets due to London’s crucial role in the global gold trade and parallel US, Japanese, and Canadian actions.
The Prime Minister will appeal to other world leaders to join us at the G7 in further isolating Russia from the global financial system.
Russian exports worth more than £13.5 billion are currently subject to UK import restrictions. Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK has also imposed sanctions on more than 1,000 people and 100 organizations.
Deputy Prime Minister:
“The actions we’ve announced today will directly target Russian oligarchs and target Putin’s war machine from the inside out.
“Putin is wasting his finite resources on this senseless and heinous conflict. At the expense of both the Ukrainian and Russian people, he is feeding his ego.
“We must stop providing financial support to the Putin administration. That is what the UK and our allies are doing.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, said:
“With this import prohibition on new gold of Russian origin, limitations will apply to about £13.5 billion of our imports from Russia. This demonstrates that the UK will take decisive action to thwart the Russian war machine given London’s central position in the world’s gold trade.
“I am glad that the US, Canada, and Japan will be supporting us in enforcing this action, shutting down channels for Russian gold sales and maximising the impact that we can have on Putin and his cronies,” said the US ambassador to Japan.
The actions taken by the London Bullion Market on March 7th to suspend six Russian refineries were built upon by the sanctions announced today.
The soon-to-be-enacted import restriction on gold will cover all recently mined or refined gold. Russian gold that was previously exported from Russia is unaffected.
There are no intentions to impose additional limitations on Russian gold that was lawfully obtained prior to the import ban.