Because of the Ukraine war, the G7 countries are taking the next step to further isolate Russia from the international financial system. In the future, trade in gold between the industrial powers and Russia is to be banned - a cut worth billions for the Kremlin.
According to US President Joe Biden, the G7 countries want to announce an import ban on Russian gold at their summit in Bavaria. Biden said on Twitter that Russia would lose several billion dollars in revenue from this important export commodity. Because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the G7 countries have already imposed tough sanctions on Moscow.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the move would "hit the Russian oligarchs directly" and attack "the heart of President Vladimir Putin's war machine". "We have to turn off the money supply to the Putin regime."
There are also talks in the EU about sanctions against Russia in the gold trade. So far, however, no decisions have been made on this. The EU countries among the G7 countries are Germany, France and Italy.
Gold is Russia's most important non-energy export, the UK government said. Exports were worth £12.6 billion (EUR 14.6 billion) to the Russian economy last year. "Its value to the Russian elite has also increased in recent months as oligarchs buy bullion to avoid the financial fallout from Western sanctions."
In view of London's central role in international gold trading and the parallel measures taken by the USA, Japan and Canada, the import ban "will have global effects and exclude the commodity from the official international markets," the British government said. The aim of the gold sanctions is to "further isolate Russia from the international financial system".
