The European Commission is working on a proposal to ban Russian gold imports into the EU as part of sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The committee is also looking for ways to tackle people who try to circumvent previous sanctions. That said, European Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is in Prague, where he is meeting with the EU ministers of European Affairs.
“The EU is looking at gold, which is an important commodity for Russia’s exports,” said the Slovak. Gold exports yielded Russia about 14.6 billion euros last year. In addition to fossil energy sources such as oil, gas, and coal, precious metal is an important export product of Russia.
Last month, at a summit in Germany, G7 leaders announced a boycott of Russian gold. These are Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The European Union also participates in the G7 talks. Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said at the time that the EU would probably boycott Russian gold to crush President Vladimir Putin’s war chest further.
So far, the EU has agreed to six sanctions packages. According to the Reuters news agency, the committee will decide on a new box on Friday, including certain chemicals and machines in addition to gold. The Member States must agree unanimously on sanctions.
