New exports of Russian gold will no longer be allowed to be enter
the UK, Canada US and Japan thanks to tough new measures to be
announced at the G7 Summit starting today [Sunday
26th June] designed ratchet up the pressure on Putin’s
war machine.
Gold is a major Russian export, worth £12.6 billion to the
Russian economy in 2021. Its value to the Russian elite has also
increased in recent months with oligarchs rushing to buy gold
bullion in an attempt to avoid the financial impact of western
sanctions. London is a major global gold trading hub and UK
sanctions, which will be the first of their kind to be
implemented against Russia anywhere in the world, will have a
huge impact on Putin’s ability to raise funds.
Given’s London central role in the international gold trade and
parallel US, Japanese and Canadian action, this measure will have
global reach, shutting the commodity out of formal international
markets. At the G7, the Prime Minister will urge other leaders to
join us to further isolate Russia from the international
financial system.
UK import restrictions now apply to over £13.5 billion worth of
Russian exports. The UK has also sanctioned more than 1,000
individuals and more than 100 entities since Putin’s invasion of
Ukraine.
The Prime Minister said:
“The measures we have announced today will directly hit
Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin’s war
machine.
“Putin is squandering his dwindling resources on this
pointless and barbaric war. He is bankrolling his ego at the
expense of both the Ukrainian and Russian people.
“We need to starve the Putin regime of its funding. The
UK and our allies are doing just that.”
Chancellor said:
“With this import ban on new Russian-origin gold, over
£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 the UK will take tough steps to stop the
Russian war machine.
“I am pleased that following discussions with others in
the G7 Finance Track, the US, Canada and Japan will be joining us
in imposing this measure, shutting down avenues for Russian gold
sales and maximising the impact that we can have on Putin and his
cronies.”
The measures announced today build on the action taken by the
London Bullion Market on 7thMarch to suspend six
Russian refineries.
The gold import ban, which will come into force shortly, will
apply to newly mined or refined gold. It does not impact
Russian-origin gold previously exported from Russia. There are no
plans to extend restrictions to Russian gold purchased
legitimately before the import ban was put in place.
Notes to Editors:
- UK legislation will be laid in the coming weeks to implement
the ban.
- The £12.6bn figure is for Russian exports to the world,
source: trademap.org (ITC
calculations based on Federal Customs Service of Russia
data). As the figure is published in USD, it has been
converted the GBP using the Bank of England’s Annual average
Spot exchange rate, US $ into Sterling (XUAAUSS). The £13.5bn is
taken from 2021 HMRC data.
