British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Sunday June 26 that the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Japan would ban imports of Russian gold, in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.
The pressure intensifies a little more on Russia. This Sunday, on the first day of a new G7 summit in southern Germany, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that London, Washington, Ottawa and Tokyo would ban imports of Russian gold.
“These measures will directly hit the Russian oligarchs and go to the heart of Putin’s war machine,” he said in a statement, adding, “Putin is squandering his dwindling resources on this useless and barbaric war. He feeds his ego at the expense of the Ukrainian and Russian people. We must deprive the Putin regime of its funds.”
Downing Street recalled that gold is one of the main export products in Russia, which represents almost 15 billion euros for the Russian economy in 2021. These measures, however, only concern newly mined gold in Russia and not the one acquired before the implementation of this embargo. “There are no plans to extend the restrictions to Russian gold purchased legitimately before the import ban was put in place,” said the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The war in Ukraine at the center of the G7 meeting
France, Italy and Germany – the other three members of the G7 – will join this embargo affecting “a major export which brings in tens of billions of dollars to Russia”, tweeted US President Joe Biden.
The United States has imposed unprecedented costs on Putin to deny him the revenue he needs to fund his war against Ukraine.
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.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 26, 2022
The war in Ukraine and its repercussions will occupy a large part of the G7 discussions until Tuesday, including global economic turbulence, threats of food shortages and runaway inflation, including the energy crisis. This meeting, which will be attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by videoconference on Monday, will also be followed by a NATO summit in Madrid.