- The seven leading democratic economic powers, the G7, want to decide on an import ban on gold from Russia.
- US President Joe Biden announced this via Twitter before the G7 summit in Germany.
- The import ban is to be officially announced on Tuesday, at the end of the summit in Bavaria.
With an import ban on Russian gold, Russia would lose tens of billions of dollars in revenue, Biden said on Twitter on Sunday.
“The United States has imposed unprecedented costs on Putin to deprive him of the revenue he needs to fund his war against Ukraine,” Biden wrote. A senior US official said in a phone call to journalists on Sunday that the G7 would officially announce the import ban on Tuesday, the final day of the Schloss Elmau summit.
The British government also announced in a statement on Sunday that further Russian gold imports to Great Britain, Canada, the USA and Japan would no longer be permitted in future thanks to new sanctions that were to be decided at the G7 summit. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin must be “starved out”.
EU wants to join the import ban
The European Union is expected to join the plans for an import ban on Russian gold. EU Council President Charles Michel said on Sunday at the start of the G7 summit in Elmau, Bavaria, that he was confident that the Russian gold sector could be targeted in this way. “We want to target Russian financing of the war,” Michel said.
Legend:
The heads of government of the G7 countries Germany, USA, France, Great Britain, Italy, Canada and Japan, with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel.
key stone
“It is important that we implement what we have decided,” said Michel, referring to previous Western sanctions against Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine. As far as gold is concerned, they are ready to look at the plans in detail. He wants to promote coordination between the EU countries.
Biden wants unity in the West
“Regardless of all the concrete decisions that can be expected from this year’s G7 summit, US President Joe Biden’s priority is to send a signal of unity,” said Fredy Gsteiger, SRF’s diplomatic correspondent, assessing the start of the G7 summit. «He underlined it several times after his meeting with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. And Biden thanked Scholz because Germany is supporting the sanctions and Ukraine.”
At least publicly, Biden hasn’t said a word about the fact that Washington thinks Germany could or should do more, especially when it comes to arms deliveries, says Gsteiger. “Outwardly, you absolutely want to avoid making differences visible. Because that’s exactly what Russia’s head of state Vladimir Putin is waiting for, said Biden.”
Legend:
US President Joe Biden (left), with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (middle) and his wife Britta Ernst (right) on the first day of the three-day G7 summit at Schloss Elmau near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
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“Scholz also underlined the unity, something that Putin did not expect. However, the consequences of the Russian war against Ukraine are becoming more and more visible around the world. Energy Crisis, Food Crisis, Inflation, Supply Chains, Problems. The more dramatic they become, the more difficult it becomes for the G7 and the West to maintain a consistent course against the Russian regime. That will be the central topic until Tuesday at the top meeting in the Bavarian Alps,” said Gsteiger.