G7 to ban Russian gold in response to Ukraine war, Biden says

Posted by
Check your BMI

President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the United States and other Group of Seven leading economies will ban imports of gold from Russia, the latest in a series of sanctions that the club of democracies hopes will further isolate Russia economically over its invasion of Ukraine.

A formal announcement was expected on Tuesday as the leaders hold their annual summit.

Biden and his counterparts will huddle on the summit's opening day Sunday to discuss how to secure energy supplies and tackle inflation, aiming to keep the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine from splintering the global coalition working to punish Moscow.

READ MORE: The inside story of Ukraine's secret, deadly rescue missions to Mariupol hellhole

Rescuers carry the body of a civilian at a site of an apartment building destroyed by Russian shelling in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine.

toonsbymoonlight

Hours before the summit was to formally open, Russia launched missile strikes against the Ukrainian capital Sunday, striking at least two residential buildings, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

They were the first such strikes by Russia in three weeks.

Senior Biden administration officials said gold is Moscow's second largest export after energy, and that banning imports would make it more difficult for Russia to participate in global markets.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details before the announcement.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the ban on Russian gold will "directly hit Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin's war machine," a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY - JUNE 26: U.S. President Joe Biden attends the first day of the three-day G7 summit at Schloss Elmau on June 26, 2022 near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Leaders of the G7 group of nations are officially coming together under the motto: "progress towards an equitable world" and will discuss global issues including war, climate change, hunger, poverty and health. Overshadowing this year's summit is the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine. (Photo by Sean Gallup - Pool

"Putin is squandering his dwindling resources on this pointless and barbaric war. He is bankrolling his ego at the expense of both the Ukrainian and Russian people," Johnson said.

"We need to starve the Putin regime of its funding."

READ MORE: 'Red flag': Shocked former classmates of alleged Russian spy speak

In recent years, gold has been the top Russian export after energy — reaching almost $US19 billion ($27 billion) or about five per cent of global gold exports, in 2020, according to the White House.

Of Russian gold exports, 90 per cent was consigned to G7 countries.

Of these Russian exports, over 90 per cent, or nearly $US17 billion ($24 billion), was exported to the UK.

The United States imported less than $US200 million ($288 million) in gold from Russia in 2019, and under $US1 million ($1.4 million) in 2020 and 2021.

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY - JUNE 26: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson attend the first day of the G7 summit on June 26, 2022 near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Leaders of the G7 group of nations are officially coming together under the motto: "progress towards an equitable world" and will discuss global issues including war, climate change, hunger, poverty and health. Overshadowing this years summit is the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine. (Photo by Sean Ga

Biden arrived in Germany's picturesque Bavarian alps early on Sunday to join his counterparts for the annual meeting of the world's leading democratic economies. Reverberations from the brutal war in Ukraine will be front and centre of their discussions.

Biden and the allies aim to present a united front in support of Ukraine as the conflict enters its fourth month.

READ MORE: Cost of living crisis set to deepen, as Treasurer agrees inflation will rise

Unity was the message Biden took into a pre-summit sit-down with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who holds the G7's rotating presidency and is hosting the gathering.

"We've got to make sure we have us all staying together. You know, we're gonna continue working on economic challenges that we face but I think we get through all this," Biden said.

Scholz replied that the "good message" is that "we all made it to stay united, which Putin never expected," a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he addresses a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, June 17, 2022. Putin began his address to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum with a lengthy denunciation of countries that he contends want to weaken Russia, including the United States who, he said, "declared victory in the Cold war and later came to think of themselves as God's own messengers on planet Earth." (AP Photo/D

"We have to stay together, because Putin has been counting on, from the beginning, that somehow NATO and the G7 would splinter, but we haven't and we're not going to," Biden said. "We can't let this aggression take the form it has and get away with it."

Biden and the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, plus the European Union, were spending Sunday in both formal and informal settings, including working sessions on dealing with the war's effects on the global economy, including inflation, and on infrastructure.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte during the official G7 summit welcome ceremony at Castle Elmau in Kruen, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on Sunday, June 26, 2022. The Group of Seven leading economic powers are meeting in Germany for their annual gathering Sunday through Tuesday. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Among the issues to be discussed are price caps on energy, which are meant to limit Russian oil and gas profits that Moscow can put to use in its war effort.

The idea has been championed by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

A senior German official, speaking on condition of anonymity consistent with department rules, said the US idea of price caps was being discussed intensely, in terms of how it would work and how it would fit with the US, EU, British, Canadian and Japanese sanctions regimes.

Officials were also set to discuss how to maintain commitments to addressing climate change while also solving critical energy supply needs as a result of the war.

"There's no watering down of climate commitments," John Kirby, a spokesman for Biden's National Security Council, said Saturday as the president flew to Germany.

Biden is also set Sunday to formally launch a global infrastructure partnership designed to counter China's influence in the developing world.

Clockwise from left, Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, Mario Draghi, Prime Minister of Italy, Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister of France, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US President Joe Biden and Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom sit at the first working session Castle Elmau in Kruen, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany,

He had named it "Build Back Better World" and introduced the program at last year's G7 summit.

Kirby said Biden and other leaders would announce the first projects to benefit from what the US sees as an "alternative to infrastructure models that sell debt traps to low- and middle-income partner countries, and advance US economic competitiveness and our national security."

After the G7 wraps up on Tuesday, Biden will travel to Madrid for a summit of the leaders of the 30 members of NATO to align strategy on the war in Ukraine.

Source: 9News