UK AND USA BAN IMPORTS OF RUSSIAN GOLD

Four countries have decided that they will soon be banning all imports of Russian gold.

The United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Canada and Japan announced the joint effort is aimed at hitting Moscow’s ability to fund the war in Ukraine.

British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said the four countries aim to “strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine”.

The BBC reports that gold exports were worth more than R244,000,000 to Russia in 2021, and the UK says their importance has increased since the invasion as oligarchs rush to buy bullion to avoid sanctions.

The world’s richest nations are currently meeting in Germany at the G7 summit. US President Joe Biden suggested that the other nations attending the summit, Germany, France and Italy, should also join the ban.

“Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold, a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia,” he tweeted.

The gold import ban would come into force shortly with legislation planned to be introduced in the British Parliament during the next few weeks.

While the ban will apply to newly mined or refined gold, it won’t impact gold previously exported from Russia.

The gold ban is one of several bans that other countries have imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February.

Between the US, European Union, the UK and other countries, more than 1,000 Russian businesses and individuals have been sanctioned so far.

Image credit: Reuters