British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday called for further “pressure” on the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine, including preventing Russia from using its large gold reserves.
“We have to do more and we have to do more economically,” the leader told LBC radio before attending an extraordinary Atlantic Alliance summit in Brussels, a month after the start of the war.
“Can we do more to prevent it from using its gold reserves, in addition to its currency reserves?” he continued of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Part of the Russian Central Bank’s foreign currency reserves abroad have been frozen by the West, limiting its ability to act, but it has accumulated large gold reserves to meet the sanctions economic.
After a wave of Western sanctions targeting Russian interests, “my message today to NATO is that there is a way for the world to continue to intensify the pressure on Putin,” Johnson said.
“The more pressure we push now, especially on things like gold, the more I think we can cut short the war, cut short the slaughter in Ukraine.”
The extraordinary NATO summit will be followed on Thursday by a G7 summit at Alliance headquarters. EU heads of state and government will then meet for a two-day summit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to speak by videoconference during the three summits, centered on the war launched by Russia against Ukraine.
“The Russian war machine is already guilty of war crimes,” Johnson said, saying Russia should appear before the International Court of Justice, and President Putin before the International Criminal Court.