Bloomberg: EU looking to ban Russian gold in new sanctions package

The European Union is working on new sanctions to target Russian gold, matching a move by the Group of Seven nations aimed at further choking off Moscow’s revenue sources, according to people familiar with the matter.

Russia is the second largest gold mining country in the world, and its gold exports were estimated to be worth £12.6 billion in 2021, Bloomberg reports.

When the UK, the US, Japan and Canada unveiled their plans to ban new gold imports from Russia earlier this week, Britain said the measure would have a “huge impact” on Vladimir Putin’s ability to fund his armed forces and oligarchs’ attempts to avoid the impact of financial sanctions by buying bullion.

Member states have so far frozen nearly 14 billion euros ($14.6 billion) of assets belonging to sanctioned individuals, according to the people. The EU and its allies are working on ways to better identify and target the assets of sanctioned individuals, while some countries are seeking guidance on how to deal with the costs of managing frozen assets.