US President Joe Biden warned on Sunday that both his country and other G7 members, including the UK, Japan and Canada, will veto Russian gold imports. With this measure, they seek to further isolate the Russian economy, due to their invasion of Ukraine.

“Together with the G7 we will announce it we prohibit the import of Russian goldan important import that generates tens of billions of dollars in Russia “, reported the president of the United States on Twitter after arriving in Germany, the site of that meeting between the main world economies.

Biden added that “the United States has imposed unprecedented costs against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to steal the revenue he needs to finance his war against Ukraine.”

The US president and his Group of Seven allies had planned to begin the summit on Sunday with meetings on strategies for securing their energy supplies and fighting inflation, with the aim of preventing the Russian invasion from dividing the global coalition. who is struggling to take revenge against Moscow. The measure was to be officially announced on Tuesday.at the annual leaders’ meeting.

Hours before the official opening of the summit, Russia launched missiles into the Ukrainian capital on Sunday and hit at least two residential buildings, according to Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko. The city had not suffered from Russian attacks for three months.

This was said by members of the Biden administration gold is Russia’s second largest export behind energy, and that banning imports would complicate Russian participation in global markets.

In recent years, gold has been Russia’s largest export after energy, accounting for nearly $ 19 billion in 2020, or roughly 5% of global gold exports.

Of global gold exports, 90% was recorded in the G7 countries. 90%, or nearly $ 17 billion, was exported to Great Britain. The United States imported less than $ 200 million worth of gold from Russia in 2019 and less than $ 1 million in 2020 and 2021.

Biden arrived in the picturesque Bavarian Alps on Sunday morning to meet his counterparts at the annual meeting of the world’s leading democratic economies. The consequences of the brutal war in Ukraine will be the main topic of conversation.

The US president and his allies want to present a united front in support of Ukraine as the conflict enters its fourth month.

Biden will begin the visit in a meeting with the host of the summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, before spending the afternoon in formal and informal interviews with leaders from Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union.

Great Britain accompanied the decision

Britain was expected to announce a decision to that effect on Sunday. And the signal came from the hand of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“These measures will hit the Russian oligarchs directly and hit the heart of Putin’s war machine,” said the British leader, adding: “Putin wastes his resources in the decline of this useless and barbaric war. It feeds his ego at the expense of the Ukrainian and Russian people. “

In parallel, Johnson indicated: “We have to dry up the funding of the Putin regime. That’s what we do with our allies.”

Banning Russian gold from markets in London, a major financial center for commodity trading, will have “a huge impact on Putin’s ability to raise funds,” the British government insisted.

With information from AFP, AP and EFE.

IT