(Prague) The European Union will target Russian gold exports in its next round of sanctions, as decided by the G7 countries at the end of June, European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told AFP on Friday during a meeting. meeting of European Affairs Ministers in Prague.
Posted at 8:38
It will also seek “to close the loopholes” for those who bypass the Europeans’ previous rounds of sanctions against Russia, said the commissioner.
“As soon as we reach an agreement at member state level, we will publish” these sanctions, which will allow their implementation, he said.
Halting gold purchases from Russia is among the measures the Commission will submit to member states on Friday, a senior EU official confirmed.
“It is not a symbolic measure because Russia is a big exporter of gold. This will cut off another tap of funding for Putin’s war in Ukraine,” he said.
The biggest buyer of Russian gold is the United Kingdom, with 290 tonnes in 2020 worth $16.9 billion, according to Russian customs. The UK has left the EU but is a member of the G7.
“These new measures are not a 7e set of sanctions, but a complement” of the 6 previous sets adopted by the EU, specified the senior official. “It’s about closing the gaps,” said a European diplomat.
They will be discussed by EU foreign ministers on Monday, but no decision is expected at that meeting as the proposal still needs to be considered by member states, he said.
On the other hand, the ministers must give a “political agreement” to the release of a 5e tranche of 500 million euros from the European Peace Facility to finance the purchase of armaments supplied to Ukraine, he announced. Unanimity is required for the disbursement of funds and several national parliaments have yet to approve it, he explained. The EU will thus have released since the start of the conflict 2.5 billion euros out of the 5.7 billion allocated to this facility.
The United States already implemented the embargo on newly mined gold in Russia at the end of June, shortly after the summit of the G7 countries in Germany which had agreed on this new measure, in order to dry up the financing the Russian war effort.
Gold is “a major source of export, which will deprive Russia of billions of dollars,” US President Joe Biden said at the summit.
The six sets of sanctions already adopted by the Europeans since the start of the Russian offensive at the end of February target economic sectors, in particular with embargoes on coal and most of the oil, as well as more than a thousand officials and oligarchs, hit by an asset freeze in the EU.